The Blind Alley
by Ooshii Kurai
Summary: Kanto. Mild Vio & Lang. slight AAML. First Movie Tie-on. It all starts to go wrong once Ash is kidnapped. Carefully guarded secrets are ripped out into the open. One being the most closely guarded of all. Mewtwo... exists.
1. Reunion

The Blind Alley

**Disclaimers**: If I owned Pokemon, you would know it.

**Dedication**: to my darling cousin nicknamed Fred who bugged me relentlessly for my old fanfic filled with tossing characters off cliff (which was really a serious story but turned humorous because of her interjections) that I could not provide since it was already shipped to storage. Hopefully this story will bring back just as many smiles, giggles, and perhaps even this time I'll get the drama right.

**AN://** It's been years since I've written a pokemon story. Some of you might remember me as PurePsychicEspeon- the author of Crimson Tears, Upside Down, and Faith in a Child. Most of you won't know who I am. And that's fine- those stories aren't that good anyway. :P

I decided to come back one more time, as promised. And who got me to write this story- why my cousin did. She wanted one more from the pokemon section just for old time's sake. None of my old stories really held the type of promise or potential I wanted to continue. I wanted my revisited pokemon story to be fresh and something completely different from all the others. I promise that this one should be.

I feel I should give fair warning for this story. I am a college student- I grew up watching pokemon so my view of the genre is very different from what it became. It may a bit more mature than most would expect pokemon nowadays to be. I grew up in an age where pokemon still came from Japan. So I will try to stay true to the Indigo League. I would go by their Japanese names- but alas, I am not Japanese nor can I find Japanese episodes without quite a search (not even on ebay, man).

I also may change things in the storyline more to my benefit- making them more graphic. In my interpretation- the _Mewtwo Returns_ movie **did not** exist. And Ash **did not turn to stone** in the first movie- he was just killed, plain and simple.

If you have never read any of my stories before, welcome. If you have, welcome back. But please remember always to enjoy and review.

* * *

**Chapter One**: Reunion

You could be happy and I won't know  
But you weren't happy the day I watched you go  
-Snow Patrol

**H**e heard himself scream this time. A single word of protest stretched outside his lips. Its purpose was completely blinded by the obscurity of unawareness- just like everything else. He had absolutely no time to remember why he was shouting out.

Pain ripped through his body, a collusion of hot and cold- slicing apart everything inside him. His eyes burned and his eyesight faded into a frozen image of disjointed bewildered expressions. And there it was. The same pokemon of purple hue- with its dazzling violet eyes and remarkable raw power carved into every aspect of its being.

He had no idea what it was.

"It's you again," He said aloud. "I keep seeing you. Who are you?"

The pokemon appeared to say nothing. It merely stared back at him, as if irritated by his inability to place it. For some reason, he imagined the creature could talk. Right now it was simply being difficult.

"I've seen a lot of pokemon, even legendary ones. But I've never seen anything quite like you."

He tried to move forward but his numb body was slow to respond to his will. Breath got caught up in the circulation between lungs and heart- leaving a heavy piercing pain in its place. He was hanging by no threads in an aura that was clearly not of his own creation. It was killing him- or had already.

"W-why?" He choked, crushed by the flames of energy that had engulfed him.

He reached out his hand in vain- hoping for one last chance to know this mysterious pokemon. One last chance to know who it was. Why did this one pokemon remind him so much of himself? Why was it that it felt that he had met it before? Its long sweeping tail, arched body, horned head and angled face spelt out a name he couldn't read. The pokemon fell out of his fading vision.

**A**nd Ash rolled clear off his bed. He hit the floor hard, waking up both himself and the little mouse pokemon still sleeping on Ash's abandoned cot. Rolled up like a spool of yarn in his covers, Ash could only moan in response to the rude awakening.

Pikachu poked his head over the side of the bed and squeaked. _"What are you doing down there?" _

"Five more minutes," Ash grumbled.

Lighting bolt tail perking upward to attention, Pikachu crawled backwards just to bound from the bed and land safely on his master's stomach. Ash 'oofed' on cue.

Prying open one sleep filled eyelid, Ash peered up at his wake up call. It squeaked at him indigently. _"I'm hungry." _

"It's hard to sleep when you are sitting on my stomach."

Pikachu responded to his smartass remark with a grin and two sparking cheeks. Suddenly Ash was cooperative.

"I'm up, I'm up," said Ash, kicking his feet free from the sheets.

He knocked Pikachu gently off him by rolling over onto his stomach. Once disentangled, Ash laid on his stomach lethargically. Pikachu once more had to break Ash's staring contest with the floor with his own face in his Master's. He planned to torment Ash some more but the look in the young man's eyes made him stop from issuing the electric shock.

_"Pika pi?"_ Pikachu asked with a slight tilt of his head. _"Are you alright?" _

Ash sighed quite uncharacteristically and tucked his hands beneath his chin. His eyes appeared to look right through his partner.

"Yes. It was _that _dream again."

_"Not that dream! The one with that weird pokemon of yours?" _The pokemon squeaked some more in a language that Ash still was far from able to comprehend. But Pikachu's body language showed obvious concern that even Ash could interpret.

"It was like the last two times." Ash pushed himself up to his knees. "I don't just see the pokemon anymore...I'm in pain too."

He rubbed his arms momentarily before adding, "Except this time, it was so much more… This time it seemed as though the pain came and then started to go away…"

Ash couldn't meet Pikachu's eyes. He didn't need to look to know what expression would be on the little pokemon's face.

It squeaked rather angrily out of both concern and fear. _"Started to go away?" _

"Yeah," Ash replied at great length. "I think I was dying this time..."

Neither said anything for a long moment. It wasn't the first time they had discussed the severity of the dreams. Ash had felt for a while that they weren't normal. They felt weird, disconnected, but very real. They hurt like a broken memory that he had yet to remember the rest too. The frustration from waking up too soon put him in a mood each time he had one. And lately they had been quite frequent.

Pikachu never liked the dreams. They made his master scream out in his sleep. And they had made Ash obsessed with finding this strange pokemon whom even Pikachu doubted the existence of.

Now to think that the dream held the ultimate separation between the two of them. That Ash really could die- that he really could be a mortal, susceptible to the cruel hands of death, was almost too much to bear.

_"You're here now though,"_ offered Pikachu.

"Don't worry, Pikachu," Ash replied mistaking his comment for one more negative in nature. "It's just a dream after all. I'm sure it's not predicting the future- I'm always just a kid in it. It's been years since I was that short."

Pikachu smiled and nodded as if Ash had encouraged him. It was better to let humans believe they knew what you were saying. Otherwise they just got frustrated. Ash especially.

_"I'm still hungry."_

But Ash ignored him. Not on purpose, of course. But to humans, all pikachu squeaks sound the same. He had already started folding up the sheets for the small bunk. It wouldn't be long before Nurse Joy came in for Ash's prescheduled wake up call. Better late than never. At least this way it would make the Nurse's job easier.

Pikachu felt as though he really needed to teach Ash the pikachu word for hungry. Just as soon as he taught him the pikachu word for duck. Luckily in pikachu, duck meant only the action and not a feathered quaking companion. The only confusion is that in pikachu annunciation and tone are key. That Professor Oak fellow got pretty close at cracking down the rhythm and rhyme of pokemon speech. But then he got carried away and made it far more complicated than it actually was.

Pikachu was sure Ash would catch on some day. He was making some progress at least. Even if after six years he still didn't know the word for hungry.

Ash tucked his hands under the mattress to fasten the blankets firmly in place. The center always had rigorous expectations. The whole place was self sustained- so in order to keep everything free, trainers had to keep things clean. Or be harassed.

There had been far too many times at the beginning of his journey that he had been reprimanded for being a slob. And they log it away into your pokedex so that every pokemon center you entered would know about it. It took years before the countless nurse joys would stop giving him "that look" and lecturing the rules upon entry. He had only messed up a few times, but would he never do it again. They had sort of engrained it into him now.

Once he was sure that all wrinkles were stretched out, Ash fluffed out the pillow and placed it back neatly at the center front. He had only just started stuffing his belongings back into his pack when the door slid open.

Ash often wondered what they did with the Nurse Joys that had grown too old to be Nurses anymore. This one looked as young as ever. Ash wasn't even sure if it was the same one he had met back when he first came to Viridian those several years back. She seemed the same with the pink hair up in loopy buns tucked neatly beneath the nurse cap and the same hoop skirt like dress and apron. Same beautiful face that caused Brock to go into testosterone driven episodes. To Ash, she, and all her countless cousins, reminded him of his mother. Enough said.

"Oh. Up so soon, Mister Ketchum?"

"Just wanted an early start," said Ash with a smile.

Nurse Joy smiled back, but only politely. She retrieved a parcel from the cart beside her. "The clothing you requested cleaned."

"Thank you."

"And your breakfast."

Ash had barely enough time to toss the parcel towards his backpack before she handed him his food tray for the morning.

"Pikachu's there too. I figured he liked to eat with you. The rest of your pokemon in our care have already been fed."

"Thank you, Nurse Joy."

"Your welcome," She nodded politely again. Always politely. The door slid shut at her exit.

"Breakfast time, Pikachu," Ash called while de-capping the plastic top off Pikachu's cup of flavored pokemon shaped cookies. Pikachu wasted no time in accepting the meal. It was meager and it certainly wasn't _Pika pi pi's_ cooking- but it sufficed as breakfast.

Ash peeled off the wrapper from his sealed eggs before digging in with his fork. They tasted like plastic. The slices of apple were too dry. And the bacon far too overcooked. But it was free and better than nothing at all.

"I wish I could cook," said Ash absentmindedly as some egg slipped off his fork and back into his tray with a sickening squish.

Pikachu would have agreed. But he was too busy trying to gnaw his way through the bulb of an extremely stubborn bulbasaur cookie.

* * *

**T**he pokemon center was strangely empty upon entry. Her footsteps clicked against the floors and then ominously echoed through the open lobby. She almost felt as though she were trespassing.

"Nurse Joy?" The young woman called, leaning against the front desk. She looked either way down the hallways beyond but no sign of life became apparent to her.

Sighing, the young girl ran a hand through her short crimson locks before halting her hand against her forehead. The pressure there felt good against her head. Silently she wondered whether or not it would be considered breaking and entering to continue onward.

Regardless of whatever conclusion she had come upon, she walked around the front desk and headed down the left hallway. It wasn't long until she came upon her goal. Nurse Joy stepped out of a doorway just as the woman turned the corner.

"Joy," the girl said making the Nurse jump.

"Oh. You scared me," replied Joy, clutching her heart. "I'm not used to expecting unexpected visitors."

The woman was slender, and wearing light colored clothing as always. Although it appeared modesty struck her after several years of having lost such. A simple short sleeved button down of light green hue draped into a hem of ruffles around her thighs. And beneath the shirt a plain color of pants. She was not of remarkable dress, but she was probably one of the best pokemon leaders to date.

Nurse Joy started walking down the hallway back the way they had come. The visitor followed suit, attempting to promote their polite conversation.

"It's hardly fall yet. Where are all the trainers?"

"The slow season starts earlier and earlier every year. You know how it is. Kid wants to become a pokemon master. A month goes by and they all start dropping off like flies. I have a theory that if a pokemon trainer lasts through the first three months then they'll probably make the distance."

"Or perhaps they just don't know how to give up properly," mumbled the woman underneath her breath. If Joy had heard her, she continued as if she didn't.

"Regretfully I do not know why trainers are dropping off so soon though. I suppose being a pokemon trainer is no longer of trend."

"All these accidents going around are probably scaring them off."

"Perhaps. But I hope not. I'd like to believe kids are just becoming impossible," said Joy with a chuckle. The woman chuckled too, but in a more forced sort of way. It was evident that she thought differently.

"How are you doing, Misty?"

"Despite the poor business, well," Misty paused as if just struck by a thought. "When was the last time you had a trainer come through?"

"Had one come in last night actually. Spent the night, checked up his pokemon- the whole sha-bang. First time I've been able to do work in days."

They entered the lobby again. Joy went straight to the desk and the computer. Courteously, Misty stayed back so as not to look over the woman's shoulder.

"Was he a late bloomer?"

"Nope," replied Joy as her fingers clicked their way across the keyboard. "Believe it or not, I think he's a seasoned trainer. His pokemon were remarkably well taken care of. Probably here to take on the Earth Badge."

"He have honors?"

"No actually. That's what's strange. His resume is remarkable," She nodded towards the screen giving Misty permission to peek. Joy hit the scroll bar and watched as countless stands of information flashed past.

"What is all that?"

"Leagues and tournaments this kid has been in. Sixteen years old and he's seen more places than most masters have. Some he's done extremely well in, some not so. But through them all, he's never accepted any honors presented him. And he's been presented a lot. The recommendation list is huge. Each one of them he refused, even an offering of a gym leader title."

"Stupid," Misty huffed. "Just what is he waiting for?"

"Perhaps…" said Joy at length, "The title of pokemon master?"

Misty startled Joy yet again with a sudden outburst of giggles. It took her a moment or two to recompose herself.

"To be a pokemon master, you have to be born with either inheritance to it- or have remarkable talent. It sounds to me," Misty snickered while wiping a tear from her eye. "That this guy is a talent-less dimwit who hasn't yet developed enough smarts to realize that he's talent-less."

Joy didn't seem quite as amused. In fact, her face looked rather stern. "Well that certainly takes the beauty out of the thing, doesn't it?"

"Oh come on. Everyone knows that that title is just to bait kids into the whole career. When's the last time we've had a new pokemon master conferred?"

"I admit it's been awhile," Joy sighed. "But then ever since trainers started dying… well, pokemon training has gotten much more dangerous. It just isn't safe anymore to try and do these things."

She hit the cancel key on the keyboard, shutting it down and protecting from any future delves into the private affairs of one of the last true trainers of their age. Her fingers trembled above the keyboard and she bowed her head. She looked weary and aged in a way that Misty had never recalled any of the countless duplicates of her family ever looking.

"I can't take all this sad talk." Joy shook her head, "This… dying age of something so promising… I can't stand seeing it disappear. But I do, and it kills me. I spent my entire life on this. My whole family has. You must know how this hurts us… I just… want just to forget."

Misty saw the tears in the older woman's eyes. It touched her somehow. But she wasn't so quick to tears. Not anymore.

Misty touched Joy's hand gently, bringing an uneventful end to her tears.

"I've tried forgetting. It never works."

The red hair smiled and Joy had no choice but to smile back. She wiped her tears away hastily on the back of her hand.

"I'm sorry for all the melodrama," she chuckled weakly. "This really wasn't what I called you here for."

Before Misty could ask exactly what it was, the young nurse had beckoned her towards a door behind the counter. The room led to a storage facility for the poke balls that trainers left in the pokemon center's care.

Already, Misty had a bad feeling rising in the back of her mind. She let Joy led her obediently into the room, past the countless machines and the scanners.

Misty watched dully as the scanner clicked hummed, and trilled sending red and white ball after red and white ball through their processes. The screens blinked shadowy versions of the contents in a mechanical almost rhythmic fashion. Most of the pokemon that Misty saw flashed upon the screens were images of low-leveled pidgey, rattatas and occasionally a caterpie. Misty avoided the machines with caterpies.

The room was long but not nearly enough to have the warehouse like feel her gym often took on. They had nearly reached the end of the stream of humming machinery when Misty thought she caught a glimpse of a Charizard's silhouette splashed across one of the visual readouts. She looked back just as the image changed to that of a butterfree.

"Joy, did that trainer own a charizard?" Misty asked as inconspicuously as possible.

The screen flashed again to that of a pideot. Joy looked back over her shoulder; somewhat bothered that Misty had stopped following her.

"Yes. Is that strange?"

"No. I guess not," said Misty shrugging the ill feeling off. Of course, other trainers owned similar pokemon. _His_ line up of pokemon was always so very basic. It could only be natural that someone else could imitate it.

Joy led her further through a second door. The room that Misty ducked in to enter now was considerably smaller. It was filled to its limited capacity with shelves after shelves of poke balls. In the center of the room was a small table with a high-powered lamp hanging above it. And thus Misty's dread felt almost confirmed.

"Don't tell me this is about what I'm think it-"

Joy cut her off with a mysterious sort of smile. She pulled a single pokeball of the nearest shelf and threw it underhand up onto the table. The pokeball twisted in thin air, vomiting out a spurt of red before propelling itself back into Joy's waiting hands. The red light formed a pokemon on the table- a very annoying flippity floppity fish type pokemon.

"Not another magikarp," groaned Misty.

_"Koiking, koiking,"_ went the pokemon as it splashed to no water on the tabletop. Its daring entrance did not amuse Misty and it seemed to dismay the pokemon somehow. Contrary to popular belief, magikarp, although a very skittish pokemon by nature, loved to be the center of attention.

_Koiking, koiking_ was really just magikarp for _Look at me, look!!_

"The poor thing. Its trainer abandoned it here at the center nearly a month ago. I've tried to trace the trainer down but alas- the data I have is insufficient for tracking," said Joy.

"_Look at me! Come on, look!_"

"Have you tried releasing it?"

"Yes, but it is far too tame…"

"Ugh. You spoiled another one, did you?"

_"Look! Look at me! Splashing, come on!_"

"Perhaps," said Joy guiltily. "I only felt bad for the poor thing."

"Joy, you know full well how attached Magikarp can become if you keep them for too long. Its trainer probably found that out the hard way too. They really should be dubbed as the clingy pokemon rather than the tough pokemon."

"I was hoping that perhaps you could-"

"I already have five magikarp at my gym and all of them were courtesy of _this_ pokemon center. I can't keep taking your abandoned pokemon, Joy!"

"_Look! Look it!"_

"Would you shut up!" shouted Misty angrily at the pokemon on the table.

"_Look?_"

Misty snatched the pokeball away from Joy and returned the annoying pokemon at once. She took a deep breath and stared momentarily at the pokeball still clutched in her hand. It still hummed from the sudden zapping back of energy. It was still warm beneath her fingertips.

"I feel bad for the magikarp too," said Misty honestly. "But my gym cannot simply keep accommodating all these magikarp. Eventually they evolve and you know how territorial they get as gyarados. We already had one kill a goldeen shortly after evolution."

"Yes, I understand," Joy exhaled noisily as if she didn't. "Unfortunately the pokemon center can no longer afford to feed all the extra mouths. I shall probably just have to find another caretaker. Perhaps Professor Oak would be willing to…"

Joy made a move to take the pokeball from the young red head, but Misty pulled back.

"Professor Oak? Oh geez no. I don't need to owe that man another favor. He already gives me enough grief as it is."

"Well I have to do something with the pokemon, Misty."

Misty groaned inwardly. She rubbed the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger before finally relenting.

"Look," she said, her shoulders sagging with a sort of defeat. "I'll take the magikarp. But it'll be my pokemon. There's no need to get the gym involved in all this. I'll train it up, I have always wanted my own gyarados…"

"Oh, bless you Misty," interjected Joy.

She shook the girl suddenly by the hand. Joy's enthusiasm was sickening. "I'll get the adoption papers out. You'll be a perfect trainer for the magikarp, I'm sure."

"Yeah…" said Misty, cringing as she glanced down at what appeared to now be her pokeball. It seemed she was already suffering buyer's remorse.

* * *

**P**ikachu had eaten all the cookies, save for one. This one was deformed. Perhaps it had just not carved right in the cookie cutter. But whatever the case was for its deformity, it was still no pokemon Pikachu had ever seen before. And that amused him.

So he didn't eat it. Instead he kept it and carried it with his teeth, around the pokemon center lobby. It was stale as a rock. This made Pikachu like it even more. It was strong and a challenge. He decided to name it Grendel. The ugly gremlin cookie named Grendel.

Ash watched Pikachu's circling track with some disinterest. Joy still hadn't emerged from the back room, and he needed to make his way over to the gym. He wanted to get an early start so no other trainer could, save there be one, jump in line ahead of him. Like what happened that time before. The wait was always pure torture.

Sighing, Ash leaned against the counter.

"What you doing with that cookie, Pikachu?"

_"Rampaging the countryside,_" responded the pokemon.

"Alright. Have fun then," said Ash with no real idea what kind of permission he had granted. Pikachu just grinned and continued to march in its circles.

The television was on in the corner. News flashes of yet another poor sap who got on the wrong side of a wild pokemon. Ash couldn't watch the screen. He knew that pokemon training was dangerous. Heck, he had been in some pretty bad scrapes before. What unnerved him the most was that these kids were dying from scrapes he was perfectly accustomed to. To think that his life was always tethered between life and death. To think that he had been flirting with death for the past six years unknowingly. Or had he really? Or were all these new accidents really just what they seemed to be, new?

At last, Ash heard the click of the door opening. He whirled about just in time to see Joy coming through the door. She appeared somewhat surprised to see Ash already in the lobby, but not so much so that it would make her forget why he would be there.

"Checking out?"

"And picking up," added Ash.

"Good, good," Joy nodded. She turned the computer on. Ash heard her start up the gentle percussion of clicks on the keyboard. He waited patiently, tapping his fingers along to the beat.

"Here. Just need to fill out this little form and I'll get your pokemon back to you in a moment."

She handed him a clipboard. No sooner had he started on it than had he heard another click of the door. Out of the corner of his eye, Ash saw a second woman enter the lobby.

Perhaps another nurse, thought Ash absentmindedly.

Pikachu leapt up on the counter beside Ash, still gnawing on his cookie. He had managed to chew off its arm, or if that appendage could really be called an arm. Ash stopped filling out the form to momentarily stare.

"I really need to find pellets. These cookies can't be healthy."

He reached out to take the cookie. Pikachu saw this, and growled. His cheeks sparked dangerously.

"Sorry," said Ash, pulling back his arm. "I should have known better than to take food from you, Pikachu."

"_You touch Grendel and his mother will eat you._"

Ash laughed weakly in response, returning to his paperwork. Sometimes Ash felt it was best he didn't understand what Pikachu was saying.

Ash hadn't even noticed that the extra nurse was not a nurse. Nor had Misty noticed that the pokemon trainer was actually in fact, Ash. With his head down, staring intently at the form and her signing her own form, the two completely overlooked each other.

Misty sighed miserably as she signed her name on the final line. She felt as though she had just inscribed her own will. How embarrassing it was to have a magikarp at this stage of her career. What would her sisters say? She would definitely have to avoid using magikarp in battles that they could witness.

Misty glanced up and noticed the boy behind the counter for the first time. His dark hair and light complexion seemed vaguely familiar. It was in his arms and in his hands that she felt as though she might have known him.

Before she could get a better look, Joy had returned with a cart of pokeballs. She took the tray from the top and slid it over next to Ash who had just completed his forms.

It was then when Ash handed Joy the clipboard, his hands brushing over the pokeballs just handed back to him, that his eyes met Misty's.

At first neither one knew what to make of the other. Misty took in his age, and his maturity through the eyes, the longer stretch of his face and lack of his famous baseball cap. His clothes were darker. His build more noticeable. And quite frankly, he didn't look anything like Ash Ketchum anymore. All the things that had defined him in the past seemed to have disappeared or at least faded by time.

He looked like a handsome young man. And to Ash, Misty actually looked like a beautiful woman. Her hair down and her clothes more complementary to her curves and feminine appearance, she wasn't the tomboy he knew anymore. Neither recognized the other at all.

And then Joy put down the clipboard.

"Well, you're all set, Mr. Ketchum."

"Mr. Ketchum?" Misty repeated.

"_Pikachu pi,_" said Pikachu catching on.

Ash knew full well who Pikachu pi was.

"Oh shit."

Ash grabbed the tray of pokeballs and whirled around faster than Misty could make her way around the counter. He nearly spilled them all over the floor. If not for his careful hand guarding those that leapt from the tray, they would have certainly fallen.

Pikachu followed Ash, cookie still in his mouth- unintentionally leaping out in front of Misty so that she stumbled. Pikachu looked back only for a moment, feeling guilty for the act. So now he was an accomplice. And with that in mind, Pikachu took off after his master.

"Thank you, Joy! Sorry but I gotta go now!" called Ash behind his shoulder as he made for the double doors.

_"Thanks for the cookies!_"said Pikachu.

"Ash, you bastard! Get back here!" shrieked Misty, pushing herself off the floor and giving chase.

Joy, stunned, waved after them both. "Thanks for coming…"

**A**sh plucked each pokeball from the tray and quickly reattached them to his belt. Misty was still hot on his trail.

"Stop!" said Misty.

"So you can kill me? I think not," said Ash with a dark chuckle.

"Stop or I'll make you!"

They hadn't made it that far from the pokemon center. But there was room for what he had to do. Determined to escape, the next and last pokeball he took from the tray went directly out on the ground in front of him. In a flash of red came the twittering and cheerful butterfree.

"Butterfree, sleep powder!" commanded Ash, tossing the tray aside.

The butterfree responded with a small aerial somersault and a trill that could only measure up to an affirmative response. It fluttered its wings in a rapid motion sending a fog of potent powder in the young woman's direction.

With reflexes that had given her the title of gym leader, Misty yanked a pokeball off her own belt.

"Starmie!" She shouted as the pokemon erupted from its containment. "Watergun!"

The Starmie gonged, its jeweled core brightening before twisting it propeller like appendages around. Misty covered her mouth behind a sleeve just as the cloud descended upon them. Starmie bent back what could be assumed as its head and sent forth a brilliant jet of water. The water cut straight through the powder and directly for Butterfree.

With evasiveness that most pokemon did not have, Butterfree slipped around the attack. Misty was so shocked that she almost didn't notice Pikachu sending a thunder shock directly through the water current towards Starmie.

She returned her pokemon in haste, just barely avoiding what could have been disastrous.

"You're quite good," she said looking up at the trainer before her.

Except he wasn't before her anymore. He, his pikachu, and his butterfree were running as fast as they all could down the road ahead. Misty's face went pink.

"For a lousy cheater! Get back here! We're not done!"

"Yes we are! I give up, you win!" called back Ash.

"Not that easily," grumbled the red head, retrieving another pokeball from her belt.

Ash thought he was home free. That was until he heard the faint jingle of bells. Pikachu looked up before he did.

"_Pi pi pi!" _said Pikachu cheerfully.

Ash managed to see Togetic just as it finished its metronome. Out of nowhere shot a vine whip that quite easily wrapped completely around the young trainer. Pikachu and Butterfree looked on helplessly, as their master cried out and struggled against the vines that had now captured him.

"_Tough luck…_" whistled the Butterfree.

Misty took her time getting over to them. It seemed she took amusement in Ash's struggle to get free. But no matter how hard he kicked or waved his arms about, the vines wouldn't let him go. Eventually he hung limp, utterly defeated.

"Hello Ash," said Misty, looking up at the trainer hanging from her handiwork.

"Hello Misty, could you let me down please?"

"Noooo, I don't think I will," came Misty's playful reply.

Ash struggled again, looking helplessly from both Butterfree and Pikachu neither whom could do much against his prison. He needed Bulbasaur, and he couldn't reach his belt.

"Aw come on, Misty. Let me down."

"And let you run away again?"

"I won't run."

"Won't you?"

"This is unfair! You have no right to contain me like this," his face went red as he added in an undertone, "What if someone sees me here?"

"Not my problem."

"Misty! Let me down! At least give me a chance!"

It seemed that Misty was puzzling over something. She tapped her chin before smiling back up at Ash.

"I'll let you go on one condition."

"Name it."

"Battle me. A fair one on one pokemon match. If I win, you stay. If I lose, then you can run away again. I won't follow."

Now it was Ash's turn to grin. "Done."

There was silence for a moment- both smiling at the other in anticipation for the fight. That was until Ash broke the mood with single circular waves of his hands- his arms still locked by the vines.

"Um… now would be a good time to call your egg off me."

* * *

To Be Continued…

Please R + R!

A lot of things to mention here.

There were references to the old middle age epic poem **Beowulf**. Don't know what that is? That's okay. The whole Grendel cookie was a joke among friends. I've been wanting to add it to a story for awhile.

The pokemon have voices as you can notice. Why? Because I freakin' feel like it, that's why. I get annoyed, as I'm sure everyone else does, with written speech for pikachu being a string of pika pis and pikachu pikas. I tried to give each pokemon its own individual personality with its speech. I hope I succeeded.

Magikarp's speech was in Japanese. Sorry. Some of the first episodes I noticed that the voices for the pokemon did not match up with their names. That's because they still used the Japanese voices. So I decided to do that too. I apologize if this is confusing to those who want Magikarp to say Magikarp.

I was trying to make this story as realistic as I could make it, minus the idea of pokemon. I wanted Ash and Misty older. I wanted the world to feel more real. And I want this story to go a different route. Pokemon are falling out of favor. Humans are fearing them now. Interesting concept- and I hope to go places with it. I hope you readers will go with me too.

For those that want specifics, Ash is sixteen. Misty is sixteen. For the rest of your unanswered questions- please wait for chapter two.

Misty and Ash's battle and then Ash's take on the Viridian Gym.

And I promise, the action will be coming. I'm going for different, didn't I tell you.

No flames, but I encourage creative criticism. But please, no pokemon sucks reviews. Those shall be deleted, I can promise you that.

Thanks to all future reviewers. This one is for you.


	2. Pokemon Battle

The Blind Alley

**Disclaimers**: If I owned Pokemon, you would know it.

**AN:// **And yes, I am updating the next chapter. Why? Because if I wait much longer I shall forget the battle sequence. It's actually quite imperative to the preservation of the rest of the fiction.

Besides, there were a lot of unanswered questions in the first chapter. This is the chapter that helps fill us in on Ash's current situation. I'm also sure that people are wondering why in the world Misty is trying to kill him.

Oh and I changed my mind. They are **seventeen** not sixteen.

Unlike my other stories where I quote various lines from the previous chapter to help jog your memory- this time I shall only paraphrase what happened in the last chapter by highlighting key points.

Its shorter and to the point. I shall also do the same sort of thing at the bottom for a sort of next episode preview. Skip it if you dislike spoilers of any size. I can pretty much assure you, they are usually only a sentence long though- so they won't spoil much.

**Last Time on TBA:  
**  
A reoccurring dream, Viridian pokemon center, a magikarp and Grendel the gremlin cookie.

Quote: "_You touch Grendel and his mother will eat you._"

* * *

**Chapter Two**: Pokemon Battle- Fire vs. Water

Get up! Let's see what you're made of  
Bring it on! You know I'm not afraid  
-Angela Via

**I**t was late September, several seasons past. Back when they were all just barely thirteen. Pallet was littered with a full range of colors- filled with the crisp smells of the coming winter. It was in the age where she could still afford to waste time doing nothing at all.

Misty almost didn't notice him when she was passing down the road. Her arms packed with groceries, Misty just barely saw the tussle of brown hair over the rims of her paper bags. Luckily Brock's load was less. He was able to identify the stranger for her.

"Hey, Gary… Brock. You remember me, I was one of Ash's companions."

"Ah yes," answered the boy before them. "I remember you. And Misty, right?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"You cut your hair. It's cute."

Misty blushed slightly, shifting the weight of her bags to her other arm and reaching up to touch the red locks that only just graced the back of her neck.

"You really think so?"

"Yeah. It suits you."

"Ah. I was afraid it would make me look even more like a boy."

"Eh. No, I don't think so. It's charming, really."

"Thank you, Gary."

He was always charming. He knew exactly the right thing to say to a girl. Gary was sweet, charismatic, and (as she recently noticed) quite pleasing to the eye. Ash was nothing like him.

"I surprised you two are in town."

"Well it is Ash's birthday…" began Brock.

"We kind of hoped," interrupted Misty hastily. "That if he were to show up anytime this year, it would be on his birthday."

"Oh."

"Isn't that why you came home?"

"Uh. No… not exactly. I'm terrible with dates," answered Gary somewhat sheepishly. "I honestly had no idea it was Ash's birthday. I only came back to check on my grandfather- he's been having a few problems with arthritis lately…"

He faltered, obviously not wanting to delve any deeper into the topic. "Um. So how is Ash?"

"Unfortunately, he hasn't come home yet," said Misty a deep frown splitting her soft features. "He's terribly difficult to get in contact with. Even his own mother isn't sure if he's coming home."

"Really?" Gary looked momentarily nonplussed. "Well that's not like him. He usually gets so excited about his birthday. I remember when we were kids- he like, let every one know a month before so that he could get as many presents as possible."

"Well, people do grow up. Even Ash has to eventually. Maybe birthdays aren't as important as they used to be… since he started traveling on his own. Maybe he matured?" offered Brock.

Misty snorted right along with Gary. Both of them knew that couldn't be true. Ash wouldn't grow up. It was against his very nature.

"But are you absolutely sure he hasn't come in?" added Gary curiously.

"What do you mean?"

"I just- well, I swore I saw Pidgeot flying around that area just a while earlier…. I assumed- hey!" Misty had already shoved grocery bags into both Brock's and Gary's arms.

"I'll go check," she said earnestly before rushing off.

She left the two boys laboring over the load of food and various other supplies in their arms. It took Gary several moments of struggling to get underneath the weight of all that she had loaded upon him.

"Does she still have that crush on Ash?" He gasped, once getting his arms around it.

"You couldn't tell?" grumbled Brock.

Misty was already halfway down the dirt road. It was a beautiful fall day but the sun was hot. It burned down on Misty as she ran making her much hotter than she felt it was outside. Misty was only just managing to suck in air by the time she reached the Ketchum Household. She jumped over the low white picket fence in the back yard and barely avoided landing on Mrs. Ketchum's precious tomato patch.

The last stretch was the easiest. Jumping onto the cobblestone path she raced up to the back screen door and slammed it open violently.

"Mrs. Ketchum! I'm back!" Misty shouted out with what air she had left.

Delia turned about startled by Misty's sudden entrance. The back door opened into her quaint little kitchen and all the wonderful smells that accompanied it. It appeared that Delia had already started on dinner. She was in the middle of slicing up vegetables with Misty burst in on her.

"I see that," said Delia. She wasn't able to speak any further for Misty had already moved onto the other rooms. Delia set down her knife and rushed after her.

"Misty- wait. You ca-"

Misty stopped in the living room just at the side on the couch. And there he was, sleeping soundly. His jacket was strewn across the coffee table. His shoes were plopped just south of his propped up feet. His dark hair was a mess and his face and clothes covered with the dirt and stench of travel. Pikachu slept quietly curled on his chest, snoring with the same wispy sort of style of his master.

"He made it," said Misty with a smile.

"I was going to let you know," Delia whispered quietly at her side. "But he passed out as soon as he came in. I think he traveled a long way to get back- He mentioned the Al…ger…sa region?"

"Never heard of it."

"Me neither. Heaven only knows where this kid goes."

"That's Ash for you."

Misty momentarily spotted a hint of a frown on Delia's face. It was only for a second and so brief that Misty thought that maybe she had imagined it.

"He sprained his wrist again," Delia said nodding to the clumsy sort of wrap about his left hand.

Misty glanced over to it. He held it comfortably over Pikachu as if it didn't hurt him at all. She had completely overlooked it.

"It's just a sprain," said Misty weakly.

"Hm," Delia sighed and then said. "He's so reckless. I'm just waiting for the day when my son comes home in a wooden box."

Misty audibly gasped. She covered her mouth quickly, hoping that she hadn't been loud enough to wake up Ash. But even if she screamed, Ash would probably still sleep.

"You shouldn't say that."

"I shouldn't…" Delia said before turning to leave the two alone. "But that's what I think."

And Ash hadn't heard a word.

* * *

**T**he field behind the gym was the perfect place for an unsupervised pokemon battle. Most sound would carry to the south. They were completely shielded by the massive structure that was the highlight of Viridian's architecture. The grass was overgrown but tasted sweet, according to pikachu and butterfree, who had taken the moment to nibble on a few blades.

Misty looked across to the young man she was preparing to duel. Unlike her, he was completely careless- sitting in the grass with pikachu and staring up at the stretch of sky above them. As if he didn't take this battle seriously, or rather that he didn't take her seriously. It was infuriating but she wasn't going to let his lack of enthusiasm dissuade her.

There were so many things she wanted to ask him. It had been so long since she had last seen him. Ash acted as if he hadn't noticed time pass at all. Still carefree and completely devoid of any true vigor that was attributed to his idolized career path.

A child, that's what he still was. Teasing a blade of grass between his lips and playfully tickling pikachu on the nose with it- it was cute. But he was seventeen-year-old trainer; someone who should already be fighting against the elite, not hanging around pokemon gyms like some novice trainer. At the very least he should have given up if he wasn't making any progress or taken a job somewhere in the pokemon career field. Aimlessly wandering through the different novice leagues was ridiculous- especially with the strength of the pokemon he had at his disposal.

The ideal trainers stopped being trainers after their first year. Some went through two or three leagues before getting a job as a gym leader. But to go seven years without gaining any sort of title at all, either he was stubborn or incredibly bad at taking on responsibilities. Misty assumed it was both.

"Are you quite done?" snapped Misty, hands on her hips.

Ash looked up at her curiously from his lowly position and then Pikachu sneezed in his face. He rolled over, laughing and rubbing his face as if it would help any. Misty only sighed.

"Geez Mist," said Ash chuckled still wiping his face with the back of his hand. "Lighten up. It's just a pokemon battle."

"Since when has a pokemon battle been _just a_ pokemon battle for you?"

"It's called not sweating the small stuff."

Ash grinned at her disapproving glare. Misty waited until he climbed to his feet, Pikachu on his shoulder, before she continued.

"Which pokemon will you be using?"

"Huh?"

"It is a one on one battle. Either use Butterfree or Pikachu. You can't use them both."

Ash sighed, and plucked a pokemon ball from his belt. One push of the button shot out a beam of red light at Butterfree, sucking her back inside.

"Sorry buddy. Mist's in a mood," said Ash to the pokeball.

"And stop calling me Mist," snapped Misty as she made her way back across the field. "The name is Mist-y!"

"Okay. Whatever you say, Mi-st!" He somehow managed to add an extra special ta on the end just to spite her.

"Ugh, you really haven't matured at all," muttered Misty to herself. She pulled a pokeball from her belt and thrust it out in front of her.

"One on one battle. If I win, you have to tell me whatever I want to know and you can't run away."

"Oi, I don't remember agreeing to that."

"If you have any objections I can always call out Togetic again," said Misty with a sly sort of smile. Ash visibly paled.

"That's quite unnecessary," said Ash quickly. "If you win, you can torture me to said heart's content. But if _I win_, no more chasing. And you forget you ever saw me today."

"I don't recall forgetting as part of the agreement."

"Now we're even then."

"Bite me."

"I'd love to _Mist darling_," said Ash with an obnoxious smile. "But I do believe you wanted to have a pokemon battle."

"You're such a pig, Ash Ketchum." Misty lifted her arm and released a pokemon from the ball. It shot down into the grass and formed the shape of a pokemon. It had smooth turquoise skin and fin-like ears on either sides of its face with a main fin protruding from the top of its head. Its collar was webbed and formed a ring around its neck. The tail was mermaid-like backed with ridges- fitting a very mystical fox-slash-mermaid-listic fairytale look.

_"Va vaaa,"_ said the pokemon swishing its tail. Neither human understood it. Pikachu interpreted the saying merely as a battle cry. A pathetically cliché one like _"I'm here, bring on the competition!"_ Needless to say, it wasn't very intimidating.

"When did you get a Vaporeon?" said Ash unable to hide the surprise from his voice.

"A long time ago, _Ashy boy_. You'd know that if you didn't fall off the face of the earth… And you still owe me a bike."

"I sent you a voucher for your birthday, didn't I?"

"The bike shop wouldn't accept it. It was damaged."

"Oh. Well, I did accidentally get caught up in a battle with the Rocket-dan beforehand. You see they wanted to steal it…"

"Oh just shut up and choose your pokemon."

"Fine, I will."

Misty anticipated on Ash sending out Pikachu. After all it would be the smart choice; applying the basic elements to their natural counter opposite. It was the pokemon of his choice in the gym battle against her, wasn't it?

But Ash's hand went to his belt and Pikachu made no attempt to jump into the fry. Pikachu was too busy acting in the replace of Ash's hat.

The pokeball Ash had selected enlarged in his hand. He grinned in a way that almost caught Misty off guard. His expression had changed.

Ash was actually excited now. Somewhere betwixt the excitement, Misty thought she caught a glimpse of the years she had not seem him. Years that had matured in him ways she would never be able to understand.

"I wonder if you remember him. It took me awhile to track him down and readjust myself to his own style of battling."

He cast a wink her way, giving her no time to guess. With a simple toss, a pokemon of huge proportions erupted from the pokeball. It spread its massive orange wings and bellowed a roar so loud that Misty had to cover her ears.

"Charizard?" Misty gasped. "You've got to be crazy Ash. You can't control that thing."

"You're right. Oh no, what _was_ I thinking," said Ash with such relish that Misty found herself blushing over her own fear.

Charizard wasn't charging, just standing. Its flaming tail swung lazily and eyes glaring down both Misty and her little Vaporeon. Ash had disciplined it after all. Perhaps it really had been too long a time since she had seen them.

"Charizard," said Ash firmly.

And the massive dragon turned itself around, back now to the opponent. Misty watched curiously to see if there was any purpose to this strange tactic. But neither Ash nor Charizard showed any sign of there being a purpose. They merely stared at each other- as if they were trying to win the other over with their eyes.

"You're foolish to match Charizard up against a water pokemon," said Misty. "And if all you're doing here is giving me a better shot at his tail, I'm not going to be merciful like some others would. I'm taking the shot, don't say I didn't warn you."

Ash didn't react. Neither did Charizard, his tail still swinging.

Misty followed the tail with her eyes. She pointed catching Vaporeon's attention instantly.

"Vaporeon. Watergun. Aim at the flame on Charizard's tail."

And Misty almost missed it. Ash's eyes went up to the sky just before the water gun hit its mark. Charizard, in that exact same instant, flew up. The stream of water shot harmlessly by Ash's shoulder, spraying both Ash and Pikachu with a very light mist. Pikachu disapproved, but Ash didn't even seem to notice.

Charizard flipped over in the air and came back down. Its front claws wrapped around Vaporeon's midsection and lifted her up with him into the sky.

"Vaporeon!" Misty cried running forward into the middle of the field as the Charizard went higher into the sky.

Her eyes shot back over to Ash who was watching the skies as well. Ash seemed to notice her staring for his eyes fell back down towards her, and he grinned.

"Call off your Charizard, Ash! Just what is he doing?"

"I think it's a seismic toss, although I could be wrong," said Ash almost carelessly, his eyes wandering back up to the sky. He shielded his eyes with one hand so that he could see better. Misty was not amused.

"Haven't you learned to control your pokemon yet?"

"Control," said Ash with an empathized gasp. "Never. Why in the world would I want to control them?"

"Stop it, Ash. This is serious. I'm not battling against some rampaging wild pokemon that just does whatever it feels like at its trainer's benefit."

"I'm sorry Mist. But I really have no idea what you're talking about."

Charizard had turned in the air now, putting both him and Vaporeon upside down. The small blue pokemon was still struggling in his grip for a break of some kind but Charizard held firm. He thrust them into a tailspin, shooting straight at the ground. Vaporeon let out a scream for help.

"Vaporeon, bite! Bite its claws!" Misty shouted up to the form rushing down at them.

Vaporeon heard her mistress' voice from below. Surging with a sudden purpose, Vaporeon bared her teeth and sunk them deep into the flesh of the dragon. Charizard wailed, but didn't release. They were coming down just as fast, and Misty was directly beneath them.

"Vaporeon!"

Charizard's grip loosened and the small pokemon broke free. They were only twenty feet above Misty's head and still falling.

And Ash was there before Misty saw him coming. He grabbed her roughly by the shoulder and pushed her behind himself. For a second, Misty felt her heart skip a beat. She noticed that he was taller than her. His back was so straight- and strong. What happened to the scrawny little wimp she used to beat up for his lack of brains? Was he was protecting her?

Ash was just in time. They were both showered with earth as the pokemon touched down only a few feet away. Ash shielded Misty as best as he could. She buried her face into his back to prevent herself from choking on the cloud of dirt. And Ash smelt so good and clean; of sweet soap and dryer sheets. She quickly stepped back, embarrassed at her own ill-bred actions. Ash didn't notice, having only eyes for the battle.

A surge of frustration brewed inside Misty again. He really still thought nothing of her. But yet, her feelings spun sickeningly into her stomach, he had saved her. If he didn't like her, why would he do that?

Charizard and Vaporeon had twisted around in the air at last second. The little bubble jet pokemon had somehow managed land on its feet- the gust of Charizard's wings lessening the impact. And Charizard had flapped its giant wings just in time to avoid taking recoil for a failed attack.

"Vaporeon, bubble beam!" shouted Misty from behind Ash.

She was incredibly composed for someone who narrowly avoided being crushed, thought Ash. It took Ash a moment to take in her command. He pointed up to the sky, and Misty saw him. It was impossible not to, after all. She was standing right behind him this time.

Charizard gave two mighty flaps of his wings before shooting skyward- the bubble beam narrowly missing the edge of its tail.

Misty grabbed Ash from behind, disregarding all previous inhibitions, and shook him like a rag doll. He didn't fight her, just laughed.

"What was that?!" She exclaimed, hands still on his shoulders.

"You're quite the sore loser, Mist. You know you're not supposed to mess with your opponent in a pokemon battle."

"Tell me what you did!!"

"What?" asked Ash innocently.

Pikachu grinned down at her from its perch, nibbling nonchalantly on its gremlin cookie. She hadn't even noticed that Pikachu was still there. How in earth had that sudden brush of death not faze either of them?

"Don't give me that," snapped Misty. "You haven't issued a single command this entire battle…" She paused, staring skeptically between both Pikachu and Ash. "Are you psychic?"

Ash burst out in laughter. "Oh come on, Mist! Me, psychic? I'm not even smart enough to pass the SATs."

"Then how are you commanding Charizard? He's not acting on a whim."

"I'm touched you noticed. Most of my opponents usually freak out for a good while before figuring it out," Ash grinned. "It's actually quite funny."

"What _are_ you doing?!"

"I'm signaling him, just like you are. Except where you use your voice…" Ash looked back up at Charizard and then pointed back down with all five fingers wiggling. It seemed the pokemon understood. Charizard inhaled and released a fire attack of incredible proportions.

"Vaporeon, watergun! Full power!" shouted Misty. The pokemon responded shooting up a powerful stream of water. The two trainers were blasted with a hot steam. Misty had to cover her face. Ash did nothing- almost as if he enjoyed it.

"I use my hands, my eyes. Turns out, Pokemon understand visuals better. Go figure," said Ash continuing his train of thought. "Granted, none of my other pokemon adapted so easily to the change. Charizard was the best at understanding the hand signals and responding to them accordingly. Besides Charizard never liked having orders shouted at him. Pikachu told me so."

"Pikachu… told you so?" repeated Misty incredulously. "So what, now you know Pikachu language?"

"No, I never quite got the hang of it," answered Ash with a sheepish sort of grin at the Pikachu on his head. "But I know some sign language. Believe it or not, it really does help."

_"He really is terrible at pikachu,_" said Pikachu through his cookie. _"Most humans are. Just can't form their mouth around the syllables."_

"What did he say?"

"I just told you I don't know!" Ash made a sort of face and then shrugged. "Something about pikachus. That's all I got."

"Ash, all he says is _pikachu_."

"Like I said, I don't know!"

Ash drew away from her then, eyes going back towards the battle.

"Do you think you can go back to where trainers usually stand, and stop getting so excited?" said Ash. Misty was certain he was mocking her. And he probably was this time.

"Don't flatter yourself," snapped the red head. "I was just concerned for Vaporeon. Your Charizard was quite unruly in the past."

Ash said nothing in retort. He merely smiled. "I'll wait for you to get back into your spot if you wait for me."

They didn't have to say a word. Instead the two trainers shared a look that illustrated to the other exactly what they were thinking. Without a single second's hesitation, both took off at full spring across opposite ends of the field, spinning about when reaching their places, and shouting an order. Misty reached her spot a second before Ash. And caught in the moment, Ash shouted his attack as well.

"Vaporeon aurora beam!"

"Fire blast!"

Both pokemon inhaled drawing the power within themselves. Charizard was able to discharge his attack first. But fire blast was a slow moving move. The pillars of scolding hot flames danced in the hair before falling towards the waiting Vaporeon.

Its mouth hung open, a charge developing there. The ball of light increased and the pressure weighed heavily on the small pokemon's mouth. It wasn't until the energy became too great that the pokemon released it up back up at the flames falling down upon it.

The two attacks intermingled briefly before exploding in a huge flash of light. Both pokemon were knocked backwards through recoil.

Charizard caught itself in midair with its large wings. It flapped just feet from Misty and the two exchanged a momentary glance.

Vaporeon had the worst of the explosion. It had taken considerable damage but managed somehow to dig in its back legs so that it wouldn't be thrown far. It skidded to a halt right before Ash, tail erect and eyes glaring up at the dragon before it.

Misty missed Ash's signal. Charizard charged at Vaporeon before she could gain a grip on his tactic. By the spread of its arms, Misty was able to determine his goal.

"Vaporeon, don't attack! Dodge him!"

And the blue pokemon jumped to one side. But she wasn't quick enough. Charizard anticipated the action and latched onto Vaporeon's tail. With a grand sweep of his wings he was in the air again, the screeching mermaid pokemon dangling in his grip.

_"Crap! Not again!"_ cried the Vaporeon.

Ash smiled confidently. He was going to get the seismic toss off right this time. And then the battle would be his. He cast a quick glance in Misty's direction just to pause. She didn't seem worried. In fact, she looked rather confident herself.

And why would that be, Ash thought. He knew Misty well enough to know she didn't take too well to losing. So then that meant she had something up her sleeve. What move could she possibly achieve while her pokemon was being helplessly dragged through the air. None, it was imposs-

Then it donned on him. How stupid could he be?

She had just started to form the words on her lips. Ash knew he couldn't get Charizard's attention without a vocal order. It would throw away his edge, but it was something he would have to risk.

"Charizard! Drop Vaporeon!"

His command stunned Misty and stalled her long enough so that she didn't voice the attack in time to trap Charizard. Without question, Charizard obeyed and released Vaporeon to the vicious nature of gravity. It screamed and only Charizard and Pikachu heard its annunciation of _"oh shiiiiiiiiiiiittttttt!"_ as it tumbled earthward.

"Vaporeon! Hydro pump!" cried Misty desperately to her falling teammate.

At first, Misty thought it hadn't heard her. But then it came. The fountain of water shooting up inexplicably from the earth and swallowed Vaporeon whole.

Ash stared awestruck at the torrent of water. Misty had definitely gotten stronger. If that attack had hit Charizard, Ash was sure that the match would have definitely been over. Charizard seemed to realize that too, keeping as safe a distance it could from them pillar of water.

"That was good. You almost caught us," said Ash relaxing and sending Misty a wry sort of smile.

But Misty didn't return it, her eyes still up at the tower of water. Ash knew that expression. She wasn't done yet.

"Charizard-!"

"Vaporeon, hydro pump!"

Ash was astounded to see yet another pillar of water scream out of the first, shooting with perfect precision towards his Charizard. He didn't have time to think of any sort of attack or any way to dodge it. Only stood agape at the massive form of water now hurtling towards his pokemon.

But just because Ash didn't know what to do, did not mean that Charizard didn't. It tilted back its head and began to form something in its mouth. Energy surged from its core and into the roof of his mouth, radiating a terrifying sort of power. Pikachu climbed down to Ash's shoulder, its tiny claws digging through his shirt and into his skin. It was a warning and Ash knew it.

Misty saw the attack forming from where she stood. She realized that she was in the direct line of it. But her curiosity kept her from moving.

Instead she stared, trying to figure out what type of beam it was. It wasn't the same color as the aurora beam. Hyper beam had a similar tint but it didn't have the same texture of energy. The beam radiated heat that she felt, even though she was so far away from it. Misty herself had never seen anything like it. It almost seemed to be like the blue center of a flame or compressed lightning- the ultimate form of heat.

As the heat intensified, Misty found herself beginning to panic. This attack wasn't normal. Her skin was actually starting to burn ever so slightly. The water tower had begun to steam and evaporate before their very eyes. The hydro pump attack was actually slowed in its power; misting into steam the closer it drew to the dragon. Charizard was radiating with the power steadily comparing to that of a second sun.

Chaizard's head tipped backward more and just before the heat at reached its peak- a red capture beam shot upwards and whisked the pokemon away. Misty's eyes trailed over to where Ash stood, pokeball in hand and arm stretched out. The expression on his face was almost scary as if he knew exactly what it was Charizard was attempting. But just as soon as she noticed, it was gone. He was smiling over at her again.

The pillar of water sagged and splashed out all over the field leading to a heavy but brief rainfall. Pikachu shook itself free of water as Ash made his careful way over to both Misty and Vaporeon. Misty was too stunned to make any move towards him.

"Whew. You alright?" Ash laughed, wiping the wet bangs from his face and glancing carefully from both Misty and Vaporeon.

_"I'm fine. Thanks for asking,"_ chirped the Vaporeon. It was positive enough a tone for Ash to understand.

Misty didn't answer though. She looked at him through suspicious eyes. Ash tried not to look at her eyes. When he looked down he noticed her shirt was wet. The impression of her bra was visible so Ash had to look quickly back over to Vaporeon to compose himself. While he was grateful for her wearing one, he couldn't help but feel a little cheated.

"Well, I'm wet," said Ash stating the obvious nervously.

"What the hell was that?"

"Uh, what?"

"Don't play stupid, Ash. I saw it. That attack. What the hell was that attack Charizard was doing?"

Ash pretended to look surprised. It might have worked if Misty hadn't known better.

"What attack? He was doing an attack?"

"Yes! That huge beam! The steaming water! Look," she thrust her arms out for his inspection, "I'm sunburned, dammit! What the hell was that attack?!"

"Mist, I'm sunburned too but… that's just the sun. Not any sort of attack. I mean, come on, it is summer," chuckled Ash. There was still the hint of nervousness in his tone. She knew he knew what she was talking about.

"Look, I just returned Charizard because I didn't want to rush him to the pokemon center. That second hydro pump got us. I know when to surrender."

"You didn't direct him to do that attack… So maybe it's not something you wanted him to do. But I saw it. That- that looked like one of the forbidden moves…"

"Forbidden?"

"You know, the forbidden moves crafted by pokemon gods. They were banned because they _killed_ pokemon _instantaneously_."

"Oh?"

"Please… tell me that _wasn't_ a forbidden move, Ash."

She searched his eyes for some sign of her being wrong.

"It wasn't a forbidden move."

He smiled, but his eyes looked beyond her. "Come on. Where would I learn a forbidden move? You forget that they're just as elusive as legendary pokemon. There's no chance any trainer could just… _happen_ upon them."

"Please… Ash. Promise me, you won't use that move again."

Ash started to say something. It looked as if he were going to try and dissuade her again. But his guilt betrayed him. "I never planned to use it at all."

Misty inhaled sharply, her fear confirmed. "How on earth did you ever learn-"

"Well you won," interrupted Ash.

"What?"

"You won the battle." Ash's smile lessened considerably before he hesitantly added, "Commence to the torturing?"

Misty found herself giggling, the shock wearing off. Ash's face was so cute that she couldn't bear to keep stern with him any longer. He was always good at weaseling himself out of trouble.

_I'll give him the benefit of the doubt_, she thought to herself. _He's a grown man now. I'm going to have to trust him sometime. _

"I thought we'd skip the torture," said Misty with a sly sort of smile. "Would you like to join me for lunch, Mister Ketchum?"

"Oooh. Compelling," said Ash playfully stroking his chin. "If you buy."

"Oh ho," Misty chuckled while taking Ash by the arm. "You obviously don't remember me very well."

"It was worth a shot."

* * *

**T**he party was a great success. Although the original intent was to surprise Ash, everyone was more surprised over Ash's appearance. Almost everyone was able to attend. Duplica unfortunately was stuck in a snowstorm out in the Hoenn region. Richie was in Lulto, which was far too long a travel for someone even with a flying pokemon. Other than that, most everyone was in that house that evening.

The evening went on fairly well. Professor Oak helped Gary work the grill or it could have been the other way around. Delia served up Ash's favorite side dishes and desert. There was plenty of ketchup to be had-, which gave Pikachu quite a thrill. Most of the gifts Ash received were items to help him along in his pokemon journey. Delia surprised them all with giving Ash a voucher for a bike of his own.

When they were all full and happy was when things started to go an awkward way. Conversation went onto Ash's travels the past two years he had been traveling alone. Gary had been practically everywhere that Ash himself had been. They all swapped stories around until finally the topic reached the future.

"Come again?"

"I asked what do you plan to do in the future, Ash?" Gary repeated. "What's your game plan? You have any sort of immediate goal… besides becoming a pokemon master."

"I don't understand what you mean," said Ash. He chuckled and took an almost nervous drink of his Pepsi. "You know I don't have any idea what I'm doing."

They all laughed except for Delia. She just continued to serve up more drinks out of the punch bowl. Misty kept a curious eye on Ash's mother. She seems strangely impassive the whole night.

"I was thinking of building a pokemon gym- right here in pallet. It's not too hard to get a license nowadays. But could you imagine- a gym in pallet town?" exclaimed Gary. "You and me could run it Ash. We could be gym leaders together! It would be great- don't you think?"

"We certainly have enough space," said Professor Oak, with almost as much enthusiasm as his grandson. "If you combine your allowances from training I'm sure you could have a gym built in little to no time."

"I think it's a _great_ idea," said Delia. Perhaps it was just Misty's own anxieties but the way Delia say it made it sound as if it wasn't the first time she had brought up such an idea. Both Delia and Ash shared an almost dangerous stare off before Ash relented and looked away.

"Ah it sounds great, Gary. But unfortunately I'll have to decline."

"Aw why?" Gary looked somewhat disappointed but his tone was concerned. Perhaps he too had noticed the glances between Ash and his mother.

"I'm not interested in becoming a pokemon gym leader."

"But it's a excellent step up from being a trainer," interjected Oak with swing of his plastic cup. He almost spilled the entire contents on Tracey nearby. He wasn't exactly the most graceful lately. "You'll have an easier time working your way up to being a pokemon master."

"But I don't want to become a pokemon master that way."

"Then how do you plan to become master?" said Gary. "You don't seriously intend to travel the world and beat every single league?"

"Isn't that what a master is though?" He looked between the other people in the room, being careful to avoid his mother's eyes. "Mastery is the mastery of every type of pokemon, every type of battle, every type of terrain. Lately Pokemon training has become so political- only the rich people buying their way up or pokemon gym leaders making enough global presence so that some little guy in a business suit will deem him skilled enough in his own skill type to hand him title of master. I don't want to be that. That's not the master that I want to be… I want to be a master of them all."

The room was silent for a moment. Samuel Oak stared hard into his cup before saying, "You're making a very difficult goal for yourself, Ash Ketchum."

"That's impossible."

"Even if it was possible… it would probably take years… more than years- maybe an entire lifetime."

"It's impossible to determine just how many pokemon you'd have to study, train, how many battles you'd have to fight."

"The other leagues- there are some really foreign ones, ones nothing like here in Kanto. There are some that could kill a trainer- I'm sure."

"I think it's brilliant!" Gary laughed interrupting both Brock and Tracy's measure of the statistics. "Ash is completely right! A pokemon master should be everything! A god of pokemon training! That's what a master should be!"

Ash smiled.

Oak looked between his grandson and Ash. The two had been together since they were children. Their constant change between enemies, rivals and friends was almost overwhelming. They had become closer than ever since Ash had started training alone. It seemed they really had begun to understand one another.

"It does make sense… mythically speaking- that is the essence of a master. Even if it is a bit impractical a way to go about it."

"Then it's settled! We should start out together! Conquer all the leagues. What do you say? It's been awhile since I've traveled with someone else. Let's go out and beat all the leagues together, Ash!"

"Yeah!" Ash laughed clasping his friend's hand. "Then afterwards, we can build the best damn pokemon gym in the world."

"Ash, watch your language."

And the two boys shared another genuine laugh. Misty noticed that Delia looked worried. She wondered what could be going on between the two of them that would make her so unhappy. Delia usually was so approving of her son. Why now, did it seem she couldn't figure out what to do about him?

* * *

**T**he Viridian City Plaza was far different than that Ash had remembered riding through on Jenny's motorcycle those many years before. It had been seven years, hadn't it? Everything seemed smaller and nostalgic in strange ways. Even places he had never been before seemed to have a very quaint appeal to it.

The café they chose to have lunch at was small and white. Ash chose a seat outside for the three of them to peacefully enjoy their meal. But it turned out that neither one of them were truly that hungry. They ordered simple.

Ash flinched when Misty slammed the tray on the small café table. She scraped back the chair and sat down with such force that Ash had to grab onto the tray so that its contents would not fall.

Three sandwiches and two colas, just as ordered. Ash unwrapped a sandwich in the silence before handing it to Pikachu. Misty's sandwich remained untouched. Instead she lazily drank from her soda, drumming the table in the most obnoxious way. Ash would have asked her to stop if he wasn't afraid of her.

Ash had just started unwrapping his own sandwich from the tin foil when he decided to be brave and break the silence.

"I can tell you are mad at me for something," said Ash cautiously. "But I'm not sure what I've done."

"It's nothing you've done… _lately_," said Misty with a dangerous sort of air. Ash and Pikachu both swallowed right on cue.

"Look, I told you," said Ash in a hushed voice. "I can't do anything about Charizard's technique. I've honestly tried to get him to forget the attack but it's like engrained into him. No matter what I do-"

"That's not what I'm mad about."

"It's not?"

"No."

"Then what," said Ash. "I thought you wanted me to pay for the meal?"

"Think Ash. Use your brain _for once_ and I'm sure you'll figure it out."

Ash sat in the silence for a moment. He nibbled at the end of his sandwich. Peeled off the crust and ate it in the silence. Just as he started to sip his cola, Ash offered the first thing that popped into his head.

"Did you want me to pull out your chair for you?"

"No Ash. That would be a _recent_ event." Misty leaned forward in her chair. "Think _harder_. Come on. I know you can."

She spoke to him as if she were talking to a small child. It was annoying.

"I really can't see why you would be mad at me."

Misty took a large bite out of her sandwich and chewed almost thoughtfully. Ash waited until she swallowed- expecting to her to speak. But she only took another bite after that one. And another bite after that. She really did want him to figure it out for himself.

Pikachu climbed up onto the table. He was aiming for the ketchup bottle obviously. So that the restaurant would not have little pikachu teeth marks on the lid, Ash opened the bottle for him. Pikachu then proceeded to pour ketchup on anything within range. Both Misty and Ash instinctively remembered to lift their sandwiches up before Pikachu was able to ketchup them.

It was unusual that Pikachu made sure the deformed cookie stayed out of the way. Ash didn't question it's reasoning. It was best not to when Pikachu had a ketchup bottle in hand.

Ash figured that playing dumb any longer might be dangerous.

"You know you shouldn't live in the past…"

"Ash you left four years ago- telling me that you'd only be gone to the pokemon center up the road!" She slammed her plate back on the table and it squished on impact. Ash had to try hard to keep the smile from his face.

"In my defense," began Ash slowly. "I really did go up to the pokemon center."

"But you didn't come back!"

"You don't know the whole story."

"I would love to hear it."

"Did you… Did you really believe I was just going up the road?" Ash asked with weak amusement.

Misty just glared at him. The look was so harsh that Ash had a hard time keeping still. He cast his eyes over her shoulder unable to keep his composure.

"I can't tell you."

"I know you were arguing with your mother," said Misty softly. Ash's eyes widened in surprise. "I heard you shouting at each other… just before you left the house."

"Did you hear anything?"

Ash was the one to look stern now. She almost felt guilty for eavesdropping- almost.

"Not enough to know why you were arguing."

"Good. It's better if you don't know."

"Why Ash? Why did you have to leave? You never kept in touch besides the few times a year you send stupid birthday presents."

"Hey. You can't say you didn't like them! I know you liked the shells from Igao."

"I didn't want gifts Ash…" Misty wanted to say that she wanted him, but that was far too sappy a thing to say. It was close enough to a confession, god forbid.

And she could feel them, the tears, burning in the corners of her eyes, "You wouldn't tell us where you were… half the time I didn't even know if you were still alive."

Ash laughed- but it was a harsh laugh. "Give me some credit, Mist."

"You didn't even tell us why! That's all I want Ash. Tell us why you left! Why were you fighting with your mother!?!"

"I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"Because I just can't!"

"Why? Why can't you!"

"Because if I did you'd agree with her!" Ash shouted. His chair fell out behind him and his voice carried across the plaza turning a few heads. Pikachu had ducked off the table hugging the Grendel cookie between his teeth again.

"Because everyone would agree with her…" said Ash softer. "If I weren't me, I- I'd probably even agree with her."

"Then why…"

Ash stared at her. It was such a humbling look- so demanding of her understanding. It was almost as if he were measuring her. As if he were attempting to find a way to tell her or not tell her. Or perhaps just trying to find a way to let himself trust her.

"She wanted me to give up pokemon training, Misty."

* * *

The rain pounded down so hard that she couldn't see. Misty slipped up the cobble stone path. The mud sucked her feet under and she fell just outside the swinging gate. Mud seeped down her legs like blood, running with the rain.

She lifted her head. Ash was only a few feet away with Pidgeot all ready to be mounted.

"Ash wait!" She screamed over the thrashing winds.

He didn't hear. Pikachu's ears twitched.

Misty climbed to her feet clumsily and raced forward. She caught him before he was able to mount. She threw her arms out and caught him from behind- tightly crushing him in a hug she knew he wouldn't easily be able to break from.

"Please… Don't go Ash." She whispered into his shoulder.

He was wet, just like her. But he smelt sweet. He always smelt good, in a way she could never explain.

Ash turned and Misty loosened her grip. She had expected for him make an excuse. To try to get away. But he surprised her.

Ash hugged her. He tucked his arm behind her and lifted her slightly off her feet.

"This way's more comfortable, Mist," said Ash softly into her ear.

Her voice broke and melted in her mouth. She could only hold him back. She knew he was going to leave, even if she begged him not to.

"Please, I don't want to lose you."

"You won't." His voice was surprisingly cheerful. He pulled away from her. There was a smile on his face. Misty could tell it was just there to make her feel better. Ash was an excellent actor. "I'm only going to the pokemon center up the road. Won't be gone for more then an hour. Tell Gary I'll be back soon, okay?"

She wanted to scream… to scratch him, beat him, hurt him in any way she could. Misty hated him so much. She wanted to shout, _"You liar!"_

But she only smiled and said, "Okay."

Like some weakling. Like some pathetic little kitten. Something inside her died with her words… She was letting Ash go.

Pidgeot was looking nervously to the skies. Pikachu was miserably clutching onto the pokemon's worn saddle. It was obvious the pokemon wasn't thrilled with the idea of flight- especially in this storm.

Ash paused yet again before mounting. He came back to her, and held her tightly by the shoulders. His touch was so real. She was too tired to fight it.

Ash leaned forward and pressed his lips neatly on her forehead. It wasn't an affectionate kiss. It was one of pity and Misty knew it. She only just closed her eyes and tried to enjoy it.

"I'll see you later, Misty," he whispered to her.

And then he was gone.

* * *

To Be Continued…  
Please R + R!

It was more convenient to end the chapter here. If I kept going the chapter would be longer than twenty pages. So yeah. This chapter was pretty long but it was pretty important too. We get more into the nitty gritty details next chapter as Misty and Ash talk it out. But yeah- this was the long chapter.

Ugh. I have seen a hundred relationship stories between Ash and Misty. But I've never been truly satisfied with most people's interpretation of it. Even some of my old stories have driven me crazy in that regard.

In this story, I decided to write them out in the way that my parents seem to have. It may be a little fluff- but let me tell you so you can get an idea of how their relationship will be in this story…

My father proposed to my mother by just asking her offhandedly if she'd like to get matching rings. Their wedding song is "I'm Alright" the theme song from Caddy Shack- the first movie they ever went to together. Yes. The gopher dancing song. Do you get their relationship yet? No? Well then I suggest you read the NOVEL of Howl's Moving Castle. Then you'll get where I'm going with this.

Next chapter: the secrets surrounding Ash's disappearance are revealed and Ash goes to take on the Viridian City gym.

Thanks to the four people who reviewed my humble little story. I realize that the pokemon section of fanfiction dot net is typically filled with mary sues and original plots now rather then actual kanto fictions of the good old days. So I appreciate the feedback.

Thanks to Dreamlight, trixy14, Legnedary Chimera, and crazyNproud. Special thanks to crazyNproud since the story is dedicated to her. And also to Legnedary Chimera- who deserves kudos since they don't even like the pokemon genre. Hahaha. That makes me feel even more special.

Please review if you've read. I'd love to hear what you think.


	3. Half Truths

The Blind Alley

**Disclaimers**: If I owned Pokemon, you would know it.

**AN://** I probably shouldn't be starting on the next chapter so soon- but I'm in an Ash and Misty sort of mood.

I'm not getting many reviews for this story but I enjoy writing it- just for the good old days where I only had two loyal reviewers on the bus ride home from middle school and a shelf full of notebooks.

Been almost eight years now. At least five years since I posted up that silly _Upside Down_ romance for to see. And as ashamed as I am of that story- I feel at the same time, happy because I have certainly improved since then. And it was thanks to these past several years that I was able to do it.

I just wanna give one last warning. Read carefully. Pretty much everything is mentioned for a reason. This story goes around full circle in many ways. _Especially in flashbacks. _

I've gotten good at making sure everything clicks. There is a reason why this is my favorite idea.

**Last Time On TBA:  
**  
A pokemon battle, flashbacks, ketchup, and a confession.

Quote: "She wanted me to give up pokemon training, Misty."

* * *

**Chapter Three**: Half Truths 

Where is the moment  
Where we're needed the most?  
-Daniel Powter

**T**he sky stretched on like a sheet of silver. The rain interwove into the frosted kiss of the gale. Ash braced himself against the freezing storm and the equally bitter reprimands of the chilled pokemon on his shoulder

_"Umbrella! Umbrella!"_ snapped Pikachu. _"I told you to get the stupid thing, and you refused to listen to me." _

Ash only smiled wryly back. He had a vague idea with what Pikachu was mad about. He had refused once again to purchase an umbrella in addition to their supplies. He didn't dare mention that the umbrella would have been little to no use in this wind. Both pikachu and he knew perfectly well that as soaked as Ash was now- he would be a perfect conductor of electricity.

The puddles looked like liquid mercury on the pavement. He watched as them splash upon intrusion and fold back upon themselves. They swelled and spilled all over the ground as if the earth could just not contain them.

For some reason, they reminded him of Misty.

Ash almost didn't notice when he nearly ran down a person ahead of him. Trails were usually devoid of other travelers- so to run into someone else taking the same route was usually an unprecedented event.

He saw their outline, blurred, just as he turned to avoid them. There was an overestimation in his spin, and Ash found his feet slipping out beneath him. Pikachu screeched in his ear and leapt from his shoulder- hopefully to safety. But Ash couldn't catch himself. Unconsciously he squeezed shut his eyes and braced for a painful encounter with the asphalt.

A hand latched itself around his wrist and lessened his drop. His shoulder popped. A sharp twist in the wrong direction announced the consequences with an excruciatingly large amount of pain.

He didn't cry out, despite it all. Instead he hissed out a breathless grasp of his agony. The grip on his wrist remained until Ash broke free of it. Cradling his limp wrist, Ash looked up at whoever had saved him from a worse injury.

"Are you alright, boy?"

"Somehow," came Ash's weak reply.

"I'll take that. Somehow's always better than the _no-hows_."

It was an old man. His skin was spotted and yellowish looking in the silver light. With only a few wisps of hair across his scalp, watery button black eyes and a grand old nose sprouting like a very unhealthy beat-up beanstalk from his face- the man had a very hard look to him.

Concern clouded Ash's face. He noticed that this old man was wearing scarcely a jacket. His clothes were perhaps nothing more than an afterthought to himself. Both sweater and slacks were weighed down with rainwater. Much longer and the man was sure to catch hypothermia.

"Hey Grandpa. You'll get yourself sick walking outside like that."

Ignoring the own searing pain shooting up his arm, Ash climbed up again. His jacket was damp but still warm. To say it was drier than the man was an understatement. Without a second though, Ash took the thing from his shoulders and draped it over that of the man's.

"There. Aren't you warmer this way?"

The man stared blankly back at him. In those beady empty little eyes, memories stirred. Ash's place was filled by a young woman. Her chocolate locks hung heavy with perspiration and a bright smile bared mercilessly upon him. Her face was back dropped by the underside of her pink umbrella. Her soft lips formed the same thing. Their eyes aligned in his jigsaw puzzle.

"Oh. You must be Delia's son."

Ash didn't bother to hide his surprise.

"You know my mother?"

"I know them both."

"Excuse me?"

"Your mother and father both."

"In Kanto?"

"In Can-what?

"In the Kanto region. The country that houses the International Indigo Pokemon League Championships?"

"That pokemon training who-ha makes no sense to me, boy. It makes no difference- I've never left the Algersa Peninsula, save for a few blind trips through the Orange Archipelago. I knew them on this soil. Not on any foreign canned dirt."

"You must be mistaken." Pikachu leapt onto Ash's good shoulder, his front paws landing first followed by his hind legs. Ash didn't even flinch. "My father died a long time ago. He never left the far eastern regions. And my mother… she's been in Kanto her whole life."

"Whoever told you that bullshit was lying. I know John! I may not have known your mother well but I knew him damn well. Better than most!" He seemed to have gotten rattled, thrashing his small sharp fists in the air. Ash contemplated on intervening but the fists made a compelling argument.

"Damn good man," The old man rambled onward, "Damn good squad leader- never known one better in Rocket-dan."

The old man didn't hear Ash's sharp intake of breath. And if he did, he didn't show any sign of recognizing its implication.

"You don't have of much John's look about you at all. You have those kinder eyes…"

* * *

**"D**id she say that to you?"

Ash shifted uneasily in his chair unable to respond.

"I can't believe- surely you mis… heard…" It sounded silly even to her own ears. How could someone mishear something like that.

"Misheard," Ash laughed dry laughter. "I wish I had."

His face darkened and she lost him to his own thoughts. Their food left on the table discarded. Even Pikachu only numbly chewed on its gremlin cookie under the safety of the table legs.

"She had every right to request it of me. If I stopped training then I could get a job that produced a real income. I'd be home more often… safety wouldn't be an issue anymore."

"She's right, you know," Misty paused. "You understand her reasoning well."

"She explained each point _thoroughly_ to me…" He sounded almost amused in saying so. "We had several arguments about it. I honestly couldn't come up with a single decent excuse. I even pretended to cave… lied and said I would take a position as a gym leader as soon as I hit thirteen if I wasn't yet in the elite ranks.

"Thirteen came around and of course, I still had no intention of taking on a leader position… she confronted me that night. It only got worse from there."

Ash's voice faltered. With his eyes downcast, Misty couldn't tell what he was thinking. He was always a difficult person to understand.

"What happened?" Misty urged.

At first it seemed as though Ash wouldn't respond. Guilt surged through her.

But then Ash looked up. Their eyes met and Misty unconsciously sucked in a breath. There were tears in his eyes.

"I was stupid. I-I said so… so many bad things." When he breathed in, his breath was shaky. His hands were trembling in his lap. And his eyes blinked in rapid succession, trying to push back the tears. "I was trying to… and I… I just exploded. I should have never… said those things."

"Ash, she's your mother. She would…"

Ash just shook his head. "You don't understand. It got worse, our fight. And I… I accused her. I called her terrible things and she…"

"We all lose sense of ourselves sometimes… when we're angry."_ I should know, _Misty added silently to herself.

Ash's face was red now. Pikachu had hidden further beneath the legs of the table.

_"She lied to me about my father!"_ Ash's hands slammed against the table giving Misty a start.

"Your fa…"

"She told me my father died. When I confronted her, she refused to admit she was lying. I-I ran into someone… he had pictures, Mist! Pictures! Hell, I was such an idiot. I never questioned her, even when her stories contradicted themselves. Pokemon trainer. Shit, he was a damn miserable member of the rocket-dan! He raped my mother… no- more than likely she's just a filthy who-"

Misty's hand reacted fast than her mind. She slapped him- hard. His cheek was red, and he made no effort to turn his head back to her.

Tears welled up in her eyes and his tears disappeared. His eyes looked so dull and empty. So shocked that she would do such a thing to him.

"She wasn't." Her voice spoke without her.

"I know." Ash swallowed and then nodded. "I know… Even though I called her those things. I knew it wasn't true."

Before Ash could make a move against it, Misty's arms enveloped him. She pressed him tightly against her. She was hiding his face- shielding his sadness and giving him permission to let all encumbrance go.

He leaned his cheek against her shoulder and closed his eyes. It felt good to be held, although Ash would never admit it.

His arms fit around her waist. And in this way he pretended that he had never left.

People were looking their way. Misty sent them along with a single swift glare.

_Think what you want. It doesn't matter. _

Her hands ran through his dark hair- unconsciously smoothing back locks tenderly as she held him.

"I don't care who your father is, Ash. Even if he were a criminal that wouldn't make you one." Misty whispered into his ear.

"I know." There was a pause before Ash added, ever so softly. "Could you just hold me a little longer, Mist?"

Misty smiled. "I missed you too."

* * *

**H**e had a very straight posture. That was the first thing Ash could tell from the photographs. He took in each detail in turn. The pale face and the cold eyes. Scrawny in the earliest photos- but with a dangerous look in his eyes that hinted that things wouldn't always be that way.

The old man was right. Ash did not look like this man. This man looked like a monster.

**T**he old man's name was Frank. For the past several years, Frank had been a reclusive living out his forced retirement in a shack near the peak of Delani- one of the taller mountains in the Ruma mountain range. Frank led them there, and invited both Ash and Pikachu inside out of the rain.

It was obvious the man had gone senile. Something bad had happened to him. By the look of the hut, it wasn't built to be merely a shelter but rather a fort. It was tucked away far from the path.

Either the silence of solitude had done away with the man's mind or something much worse had happened.

Ash watched the man cautiously for signs of aggression- but still he jabbered on in worlds beyond his own. It wasn't a trap. The man wasn't supposed to tell Ash these things, but he had long since lost the sense to know that.

The one room shack was littered with boxes. There was a kitchen to one side. A mattress lay on the floor opposite of the front entrance. And a door that looked like it led to some sort of bathroom. Upon closer inspection, the sinks had running water. Which brought Ash to believe that perhaps Frank had indoor plumbing as well.

Ash searched the house as the man rambled with Pikachu nervously at his side. Pikachu didn't trust the man. He was once a member of the rocket-dan; Pikachu's fear was understandable. But now the man was harmless.

Did Frank really know Ash's parents? And was John really Ash's father? Ash wasn't sure, but he was going to follow this lead a thoroughly as he could.

It was the first lead he ever had on his father's identity. And even if it led to a dead end, he would be one step closer to understanding one of the most deadly organizations in their known world.

Frank was sitting on the couch now, peeling both Ash's jacket from his shoulders first. Next he removed his own drenched trench coat revealing a lacing of painful scars running down his arms and perhaps even all down the man's back as well. Ash stared wide-eyed at the wounds until he realized what he was doing. He looked away and quickly busied himself further with investigation.

So the man was probably tortured? Was he a traitor? Maybe he was even a turncoat, or a double agent? Ash couldn't be sure Frank was a turncoat with how highly he spoke of the organization. But something had gone wrong…

Ash aimlessly pried off the lid of one of the many boxes. Pikachu leapt back at the sight of the thing inside. Even Ash had to let out an audible gasp.

Guns. Tons of them, and ammunition. The next box had much of the same. But the boxes closer to the wall held empty pokeballs and hunter traps. The boxes near the mattress were the worst- piled high with illegal pokemon pelts. Pikachu was trembling on his shoulder at the end of the search, and Ash could do nothing to comfort him. Ash felt just as ill.

Team Rocket didn't just steal pokemon from trainers after all. They hunted them- probably tortured and experimented on them as well. Even the thought of the pokemon that Frank himself had brought to an end was nauseating.

"Murderers," Ash whispered. "They're all murderers."

"Look!" Frank shoved a photo album under Ash's nose so suddenly that Ash nearly fell onto his back. "There he is. Just like I told you! John!"

The young boy in the picture glared up at Ash. In fact, in all the pictures he appeared to be glaring.

Ash flipped the page carefully. He watched curiously as this John slowly grew up. No picture showed a hint of the rocket-dan. They were doing normal things. Frank was fishing with the young boy. Then they were on the beach. Later they were hiking. John slowly grew up from a scary looking kid to an even scarier looking adult.

"How did you know… John?" Ash asked warily.

"I worked for his mother. Then later, I worked for him." Frank beamed proudly. Ash did not join in with his smile.

There was no true sign that John was related to him. The most that Ash could tell was that their hair and eyes were the same color and they suffered the same build as children. He didn't believe John was related to him at all. Then Ash flipped to the last page.

And there she was. His mother barely out of her teenage years, one arm over John's shoulder, and wearing a pink bikini on the docks of some vague location. Ash found himself blushing for noticing how really beautiful his mother was. She was smiling widely, sending a peace sign to whoever the cameraman was.

And she was there. She was in the photograph.

John looked noticeably uncomfortable at her touch. Ash could tell by his expression that he really did like his mother. For whatever reasons, he both loved and hated those arms around him.

Ash wanted to save her- his mother. He wanted to puck her out of the photograph and carry her safely home. He wanted to erase John away. He wanted to rip out the man's eyes for staring so longingly at his mother. He wanted to give his mother a chance to escape the frozen perpetual and eventual hell she was trapped in.

"Well that's an old picture. I wonder how that got out of place."

Ash ignored Frank. He set the photo album on the coffee table. The expression on his face must have been terrible for it even broke through Frank's insensibility.

"Hey boy. Are you alright?"

"Yes… In a moment." Ash stood up from the couch. He didn't even remember sitting down. He ignored Frank's eyes watching him as he crossed the room. Ash opened the door to the bathroom and barely gave Pikachu time to slip in before he shut it behind himself.

The lock clicked behind him. Ash leaned against the door for only a moment. The toilet and sink looked disgustingly dirty. Ash wasted no time looking at either of them. Instead his eyes went to the clouded mirror.

John's eyes stared back at him.

Ash's insides tossed before he could stop them. He heaved then empted his stomach all over the sink basin. Pikachu only watched in quiet horror.

Ash fumbled with the knobs next to the faucet. Hot water rushed to his rescue, washing all the residue from his purging away. And he watched his face again. He didn't see John this time, but rather just himself. He was buckled over, red faced and sweating profusely.

Pikachu jumped at the sudden knocking. Frank had tried to come after them. The knob jiggled and his knocking ensued. Ash could hear Frank calling for them.

Ash stared hard back at his reflection.

"You aren't him." He said to his tired expression. "You aren't anything like him. You aren't a murderer."

"_Pikapi_," Pikachu began. But then he could think of nothing else to say beyond that.

Tears came and ran down his face. He leaned forward almost innocently. He suddenly collapsed- chin smashing against the sink and knocking him backwards across the floor.

"_Pikapi!!_" screamed Pikachu rushing to his aid. There was blood pooling from his master's mouth. He wasn't breathing.

_"Pikapi!! Pikapi!"_

The knocking continued and Ash could no longer respond.

* * *

**"H**ey, are you alright?"

Misty was looking at him concerned again. She had been doing that ever since they returned to the pokemon center. It was hard to keep things inside when those eyes bore so completely and thoroughly into him.

"Yeah. In a moment." Ash exhaled deeply and leaned back into the plastic cushion. It squeaked uncomfortably. Pokemon center chairs weren't ever the most luxurious of furniture. "I was just remembering something unpleasant."

"You should try to think of nice things."

Ash cracked a smile. "For you, Mist, I'll try."

She laughed. Ash wished he could join in, but he couldn't shake the tension. He showed her weakness back at the café. Things were awkward now. If anything he wanted the chance to disappear again. But now that Misty knew, she wasn't going to let him out of her sights.

The television blaring the latest headline news played as mere background noise. Nurse Joy was safely in the back room- going over the stock of pokemon still left in their care. That left Ash and Misty completely alone in the lobby.

She was watching the TV absentmindedly. Ash was watching her. She really had grown up considerably since he had last seen her. Before he had a crush on her- and hoped he would get over it in their absence. But running into her again only intensified his once dominant feelings.

He probably was in love with her.

But then what was love? No definition could possibly encompass its entire meaning. No definition could ever satisfy Ash's own doubts. What if he didn't love her? How cruel would it be to confess something he himself wasn't sure of?

But he knew he felt _something_ for her. It hurt every time he thought about her. His heart raced when he though of touching her lips- of sharing her breath.

Ash's hands were shaking. He tightly grabbed his knees and closed his eyes. His heart was racing even now. Ash took in deep breaths and tried to focus on anything other than her. But of course he failed.

It took a bite from Pikachu to wake him up.

"Ouch! Pikachu!"

_"You had a stupid expression on your face." _

He wagged the cookie between upper and lower jaw at Ash tauntingly. Ash only scowled in return.

His eyes returned to Misty who had missed the entire ordeal. Should he ask her? Misty seemed to understand feelings better than most people. Perhaps if he asked her in a vague sort of way?

Ash frowned. Why go halfway? Why not just confess? There's no need to half ass something like this.

So he screwed up his courage and took a deep breath. "Misty… I-"

"Oh! White Ice is making an announcement!" exclaimed the red head immediately breaking Ash's resolve. She sounded giddy. It was almost disgusting.

"White Ice…" said Ash in a less than pleased tone. "I hate those guys."

"Eh? Why?"

Ash crossed his arms. "Their pokemon fear them."

"How do you know? I thought you said you weren't psychic." Misty made a face that just caused Ash's tetchiness to grow. He shifted in his seat uncomfortably.

"You can just tell how their pokemon react to their commands. If anything- I'd say they're no better than rocket-dan."

"Eh?! You shouldn't say such dangerous things, Ash! WI really helped control the wild pokemon problem. They're practically the red cross- support groups… they really help people in need. Most people consider than heroes…"

"They help people. Not pokemon…"

Irritably, Ash turned his attention to the television set. He didn't want to argue with Misty about such a touchy subject. It was obvious that she wouldn't see things his way. He was disappointed to realize that his chance of confessing to Misty was blown yet again. But he was more relieved than disappointed.

**"Approximately between the hours of ten to eleven last night there was yet another act of larceny at the eastern Johto WI head-quarters,"** said the heavy set man on the television set. There was a bald patch on the very top of his head and a nervous twitch to his voice that really made him look small compared to the regally dressed WI member at his side. The WI member was a blonde, and wearing the white uniform that was typically issued the force. He looked official, clean, and very well disciplined. Ash didn't like the man's eyes. They looked too uncaring- too calm.

**"At this time, it is estimated that up to two hundred some pokemon in White Ice's custody were stolen and then released. We have three key witnesses that had identified this man to be approximately medium in height and build. He is thought to have dark colored hair and was last seen in a gray jumpsuit with a white and black assorted helmet. WI members are cooperating with the existing police force to find the-"**

**"We must humbly request of you good people,"** interrupted the WI member. His voice was strong and deep. The reporter fell silent at once, his nervous watery eyes twitching back and forth from camera to the man at his side. **"We must humbly request your services in finding the perpetrator of this heinous act. And know, anyone aiding and abiding this criminal will suffer the same consequences as the criminal himself. There is no justice in crime."**

**"Ah ha. W-well said,"** followed the reporter nervously. **"Now to return to Jessica with tonight's weather. Jessica?"**

Ash just laughed. Misty stared.

"Why are you laughing, Ash?" said Misty urgently.

"This vigilante! He's brilliant. Two hundred pokemon! That sly bastard pulled off yet another impossible heist. I'm really starting to admire the guy."

"Oi oi. Haven't you got it backwards, Ash? Hating the WI police force and admiring the criminals… I think you've been hanging around the rocket-dan too much."

Misty looked at him crossly. But Ash only smiled.

"Or maybe it's everyone else who's got it backwards."

Misty's face broke into shock. There was something in his face that said something. She couldn't read it.

"Don't tell me," Misty hissed in an undertone, covering her mouth with a careful hand just in case someone might overhear them. "That you're the vigilante."

Ash broke out into laughter again sending Misty into bewilderment yet again.

"Me? The vigilante?"

"Well you fit the description."

"Perhaps…" Ash grinned mischievously, hiding his face behind the sleeve of his arm. "I could very well be the daring vigilante! _Bwhahahahahaha!_"

His exaggerated laughter clearing brought Misty conclusion that she was wrong. She gave him a sour look. So did Pikachu.

"You could have just said no. You don't have to tease me."

"But that would have been less fun."

Ash noticed she still looked suspicious so he dropped the act. "Look, Mist. I might be reckless, but I'm not stupid. If you don't believe me, check the center's records. I was clearly checked in and safely here in Viridian City last night."

Misty sighed and let out a sort of weak laugh. "Yeah, I know. But it really does sound like something you would do."

"Yeah. I wish I had thought of it first."

"Ash!"

"I'm kidding! Kidding!"

Then the clock donged… twice. Ash panicky yanked up his sleeve to glance at his watch.

"Dammit! My match!"

"Match?"

"I'm taking on the Viridian Gym today and I'm late!"

Ash snatched up his jacket from the chair before turning to the yellow mouse still chewing idly on his cookie, "Let's go, Pikachu."

Pikachu stuffed the cookie safely between his teeth and leapt off the chair to his master's feet. Misty followed suit.

"A gym match. That means you're going to compete in the Indigo league again?"

"That's the general idea."

"I didn't see you at my gym."

"That would be because I avoided your gym."

"And Brock?"

"I battled his father for the badge… in disguise."

"Ash!" She slammed her feet against the ground. Ash stopped but didn't dare turn. He didn't need to look to know there were tears in her eyes. "The hell! Did you want to be dead to us all?"

Ash didn't answer.

"This argument was between you and your mom. Why did you have to bring us into it? Why did you avoid us?"

"Because… I didn't want you following me."

"Wh-Why?"

Ash looked at her. Misty stopped crying instantly. His expression held no words to description. He just stared.

"I didn't want to become John."

He left Misty stunned once again, with Pikachu trotting after.

* * *

**C**onsciousness seeped back slowly through parted fingertips. His whole face felt as if it had caved in on him. Even through the grogginess of medication, pain ached in slow waves.

Opening his eyes gave him a sense of being blind. The walls and all the furniture were all a brilliant white. Blinking past the sickening sense of vertigo, Ash came to the quiet and quick conclusion that he was in a hospital.

He turned his throbbing head from either side. There was a window covered with a curtain on his left. And on his right was the curled and sleeping form of his pikachu. Ash smiled an reached out a slow hand to stroke the mouse's head.

"So you're awake?"

Ash looked up and saw a man standing there dressed in white. A doctor the way he scribbled on the clipboard. He had been in a hospital often enough to know how this process worked.

"Could you tell me your name, sir?"

"Ash Ketchum. I'm twelve years old. A pokemon trainer from Pallet town. But you already know all that because you have my pokedex." He would have smirked but the action set pains through his face.

"Quite correct. But we had to make sure you hadn't suffered any major head trauma. You took quite a tumble, Mister Ketchum."

"What happened?"

"I only know the official report. You were staying at a old hermit's lodgings and suddenly grew ill from a set in of pneumonia. You went into the bathroom of such lodgings and passed out- causing critical damage to your lower jaw, a medium sized gash in your tongue that could have very well severed it and a concussion, from a blow to the back of your head." He paused and looked up from his clipboard. His expression was easily that of pity. "You're lucky that Mister Corbin had been able to resuscitate you until such time that an paramedic team could reach your location."

Frank Corbin, thought Ash with silent regard. He was a murderer who knew CPR. The paradox sent Ash's mind reeling in a tailspin.

"So he saved me…" said Ash inanely.

"That does appear to be the outcome, yes."

"Why?"

"Well, I'm sure you'd have to ask him that yourself. But I do believe it's because…" The doctor smiled. "He's human."

Ash tried to come to the same conclusion as the doctor but he couldn't. Instead he rolled over and slept for two more days. His dreams were filled with happier things than his current reality.

* * *

To Be Continued…  
Please R + R!

I keep saying that the next chapter will be Ash taking on the Viridian Gym but my plans never come out as they should. I can confidently say that this time- I know Ash will be taking on the gym in the next chapter.

Pay attention to the flashbacks. There's nothing that isn't mentioned for some reason. It's something I've been towing with- only telling the readers half of what is going on. Hee.

I'd hate to dedicate any of my fanfics for any purpose- but I find myself doing it a lot when bad things happen in real life. **I will have to dedicate this chapter especially for all my fellow students at **_**Virginia Tech University**_ If it weren't for this chapter, I wouldn't have been up half the night and I would have gone to class in the morning- next to Norris hall. This chapter helped me come to terms with a lot of things. And it was perfect distraction.

I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Thank you to the reviewers- no matter how few of you there are. Bleached Roses, Twin Tails Speed, Trixy14, Crysania Fay, and of course crazyNproud. If it weren't for you five people, there'd be no one to read my story. Hahaha.

Please review. I highly appreciate critical reviews. I despise flames. And of course, appreciate any compliments. Let me know what you like- and mostly just let me know that you've read. There's nothing more important to a writer than to know people have read.

Thanks once again. I'll see you again next chapter, as Ash takes on the Viridian City Gym.


	4. Gym Battle

**The Blind Alley**

**Disclaimers**: If I owned Pokemon, you would know it.

**AN://** I like this story too much for my own good. Too bad I still haven't uncovered a completely satisfactory ending for it yet. I have a plan, I just hope it all ties together nicely when it's called for. Right now I'm trying to prevent the story from ending the way my other ones did.

Yes, when I switch scenes usually it goes from past, present, past, present…etc. At least it will for a while. I'm hoping not to confuse too many people. It's just these first several chapters that are littered with the past. Mostly because later, when the much more intense things happen- there's little time for the characters to daydream.

And for all of you who don't know, I've dreaded this chapter. Pokemon battles are hard to write. Really they are.

**Last Time on TBA:  
**  
A glimpse of daddy dearest, white ice, hugs, and an admired vigilante.

Quote: "I didn't want to become John."

* * *

**Chapter Four**: Gym Battle 

I'll never give up! Never give in  
Won't stop believing cause I'm gonna win  
-Masterplan

**T**he screen bleeped into a fuzzy existence. Patiently, Ash waited as the line made it way down the screen in quiet rendering. Pikachu was asleep so now was the perfect time to make a call without be disturbed. It wasn't long until the Professor's face came into view, wrinkles quietly creasing the edges of his mouth as he smiled.

"Ash!" said the surprised old man. "Oh, Ash. It's been quite awhile. Where are you?"

"Algersa."

Ash shifted the hat on his head. He hoped that Oak couldn't see the bandages he was hiding. His jaw had healed nicely. That left only the bump on his head and his swollen wrist to hide from view. He was sure that word would travel fast if Oak saw he was injured. He didn't want to give his mother another leg to stand on.

"Algersa. Wow. That's a fair distance from here."

"Yeah. I know." He was supposed to be heading back to Pallet town now, wasn't he? Trapped in a hospital bed for the past few days had cost him valuable travel time. It was a fact Oak would be better off not knowing. "I guess I forgot."

Professor Oak sighed. Ash resorted to fussing with his hat again. The bandages were really starting to itch against his forehead.

"Deliah will be disappointed."

"Yeah." Ash said nothing else. He must have looked as uncomfortable as he felt because the professor suddenly sounded concerned.

"Ash, are you okay?" His brow had furrowed and his smile that had been pleasantly and politely visible faded into a mess of wrinkles.

Ash paled and nervously readjusted his hat. "Of course I'm okay."

"What happened to your wrist?"

Ash dropped his hands. "Nothing."

Oak made a peculiar sort of face but didn't press it. He wasn't a confrontational sort of man, unlike his grandson.

"So what were you calling about, Ash? I can't believe you'd just be calling to let us know you'll be late."

"You're right. There's something more. I'm looking for someone."

"Hold on… Okay. Alright- And who would that be?" Ash heard the clicking of a keyboard as Oak was obviously opening a database.

"A trainer. A pokemon trainer that was in Algersa about twenty to thirty some years ago."

"A trainer from Algersa? Even in that time period there's a lot of pokemon trainers to go through. Does this trainer have a name?"

"Yes, his name is John Ketchum."

Oak stopped typing. There came a long and very awkward silence. Then Oak released a breath he didn't know he had been holding.

"Pardon?" he croaked.

* * *

**T**he room was a hexagon. There were no lights in the low hanging ceiling. The only light came from the seven ten inch monitors flashing various locations of the property in artless progression. 

Before the light show of varying degrees, stood a lone leather armchair with wide backing and tall headrest. An ottoman of considerably high quality. In it sat a man with stooped shoulders and twitchy anxious fingers. These fingers went over the control panel to cause the spontaneity. His face was set in with lonesome age and scarred by years of refusing to let go of futile dreams.

His eighth monitor was out. He could see his reflection in its inky black depths. He refused to look at himself. The eyes that stared back scared him. They were the eyes of a dead monster.

"Master Giovanni."

"Yes." said the man without even bothering to see who it was. The Persian on his lap yawned piteously. Giovanni set a heavy hand on its head reminding it to keep still.

"The challenger to the gym has arrived, sir. Should I see him in, sir?"

"Yes, yes. Do as you wish."

Giovanni flashed two more monitors again. The way he so thoroughly searched the grounds, it was if he had lost something. Or was expecting someone.

"Sir. The challenger…"

"What about them?"

"Well sir. It's the boy with the pikachu. The one you sent Agent Jessie and James to retrieve?"

Giovanni stopped fiddling with the cameras. His hand stretched down the Persian's back, causing it to unconsciously purr with pleasure.

"I know."

"Would you like us to remove him of it?"

"What?"

"Would you like us to take his pikachu for you, sir?"

Giovanni said nothing for a long moment. Then he resumed clicking his cameras. "No," he said at last. "I don't care for a pikachu any longer."

"As you wish, sir."

The agent left. Giovanni waited for the door to shut before changing all the cameras once more to the front gate. There a smiling and dashing young man stood complete with a yellow mouse perched precariously on his forehead. There was a red haired girl with him, yelling at him, causing him to laugh.

Giovanni focused his camera and freeze-framed the boy's face. The smile spread over to Giovanni's face too- but his was far less sincere. It was a tired smile. A smile that had given up trying to be one.

"I've been waiting for you, kid."

* * *

"**W**hat do you mean?" 

Professor Oak sighed. Ash had moved too suddenly and static disrupted the picture. It would take a few minutes before the connection had settled again. The Professor wasn't very too fond of these visual phones. Confound the coming of technology and give him back his old Panasonic handhelds. At least their ring tones didn't annoy the hell out of him.

Oak could see Ash's face again. He could also see the boy still hadn't calmed down any. The Professor couldn't blame him. He knew full well what it was like to have lead and then to hit an utter dead end.

"I told you Ash. I haven't found anyone by the name of John Ketchum in my database."

"What about in…"

"In any of the regions. I checked Johto and Kanto- Hoenn too just for good measure. Ash, the only Ketchum I found in the database is you."

"What about inactive ones?"

Oak hesitated. His cursor hovered over a name. A surprising one that he himself hadn't expected to be there. He debated over whether it was wise to give such potentially dangerous information unwarranted. But the circumstances of the inactivity bothered him. Was it really his place to dig up dirty family secrets? Oak decided on the latter and exed out of the window.

"No one."

"Really?" Ash sank back into his seat. "I can't believe it."

"Don't be so upset, Ash. Just because your relatives weren't so big on the pokemon scene doesn't mean that you can't be."

Ash looked up. Oak knew the boy was searching his face but did nothing.

"Did you know my father, Professor Oak?"

"Regrettably, no. I did not have the pleasure of knowing the man."

"Pleasure?" Ash snorted.

"Was something I said funny?"

Ash fell silent. Even though Oak hadn't really known the boy well when he was growing up, it didn't take a genius to see exactly what a missing father meant to a child. Oak could see that Ash hadn't just happened upon that name. He had definitely found a lead.

"Look, Ash. Don't believe everything you hear about your father. Not even what your mother says."

Ash looked up in surprise. Oak nodded understandingly, "You don't know this man. You might never know him. And while you might think that no reason can excuse the fact that your father was absent in the process of raising you- you don't have his side of the story. And until you have his side, you shouldn't make any wild conclusions about who he is."

Ash didn't respond. His opposite hand lowered the receiver.

"Ash… I can't stop you from chasing after your father. But please, promise me you'll leave your mother out of this. I think she has good reason for keeping the truth from you."

Ash closed his eyes and exhaled slowly, "I have to go. Pikachu's waking up."

Then, before Oak could say anything more, Ash hung up. Oak was left staring at a blank screen and listening to a dreadful monotonous dial tone.

"Ash…" breathed the old man.

He stared at the screen for only a moment more before dialing his grandson. He'd have to make up a convincing lie to get that boy here quickly. He used mono last Christmas and he was saving hypothermia for next Thanksgiving.

But he hadn't used the arthritis excuse yet.

* * *

**T**he building looked even more impressive than he remembered it being. With its long walkway and huge marble columns stretching up in to the sky. The large wooden doors stood in the same place with the same pokeball symbol over the top. It was untouched in time, the entrance surrounded by a garden that was surreal in its protective beauty. It was hard to believe it belonged in the same cozy town he had known to exist only a day's journey away from his home. 

But yet there were things he didn't remember. The columns looked ill cared for. The walkway, while impressive from a distance, had become cracked and worn through neglect. And the intimidating guards were either absent or had completely abandoned their posts. In fact, upon closer inspection it was clear that time had indeed passed and not all necessarily for the best.

Considering that they had caused it to collapse upon itself the last time they were here, it was understandable that not everything could be built up to the grandeur it once was.

Ash knew this gym was run by Team Rocket. That's why he had to be careful. But that's also why he had come. Ever since his dreams had started, he had been looking for some lead- some connection to why he might be having such a reoccurring nightmare. He had found it through these doors, through Gary, although Gary himself might not have been aware of it.

No one knew what Ash had been doing the past several years. The only persons with contact with him were Professor Oak, with the occasional blacked out visual phone call and transferred pokemon, and Gary Oak. A remarkable trainer, much like himself, who had sought out after Ash's disappearance to find him, kick his ass, and drag said ass back home.

Of course that never happened, thought Ash with a sly grin. He had been able cover his tracks from his rival for quite some time. But it was guilt that made Ash call Oak on occasion. To let him, of all other people, know that he was all right. He owed it to Gary for making a promise to him he knew he couldn't keep.

And something had happened to him here. Something so terrifying that it had left him unable to say much about it for years. It was also the first time Gary saw Ash battle… and the first time that Gary was actually nice to him.

This place was filled with memories. And one of them was the one he wanted to get to the bottom of. He hoped he would, or else coming back to Kanto would have all been for not.

"This is it Pikachu."

Pikachu perked up his head. His ears twitched with interest.

"This is where we find answers."

That pokemon that attacked Gary and left him comatose on the cold gym battle floor- the one that scared Gary so bad that he refused to even talk to Ash about it. That was until Ash described his dreams. Gary and Ash's descriptions of the creature were similar… chillingly similar.

If this pokemon was still here, there was a chance that there could be danger beyond these doors. Gary could have come off easy in his match. There was no telling what might be waiting for him this many years later. And if that pokemon was that strong then, even after all of Ash's training, could his pokemon compete? Could Ash compete?

Ash nearly jumped a foot when someone grabbed him by his shoulder. He spun around wildly nearly clocking Misty upside the face.

"Ah! Ash! What the hell-?!"

"Mist!" Ash swallowed hard. "Geez. Don't scare me like that."

"Don't scare _you_ like that? How the hell was I supposed to know you're a complete spaz? Honestly. I called your name like three times."

Misty crossed her arms. It was in such a way that Ash knew he was in trouble. He sighed and shook his head.

"What are you doing here?"

"What else? I came to watch your match."

"To watch my match or to make sure I was really going to a match?"

Misty scowled.

"To watch your match." Ash chuckled but Misty ignored him, "I haven't seen one of your gym battles in years. Remember… I used to have a front row seat to them all. The first two years, I watched you go through three different leagues."

"Until you left."

"Until _you_ left," came Misty's retort.

"Funny. I distinctly remember someone leaving for a pokemon gym just after Johto…"

"Oh shut up, Ash. You know full well it wasn't of my own accord."

"Neither was mine."

Misty wanted to say that she _begged to differ_ but she didn't want to start a fight with Ash. That and the way he had said it made her actually feel bad for him. For whatever reason, Ash had thought he had done his best by not letting anyone else get involved with his family problems. He was willing to isolate himself to keep from bothering the rest of them. If only he knew that they were apart of his family as much as he was.

"Hey… What were you saying earlier?"

Ash blinked and looked back to her. "What?"

"You were talking to yourself."

Ash blushed visibly. "Uh, no. Well… sorta."

"What were you saying? Something about answers? What answers?"

"Nothing Mist, nothing. I was just rambling to myself, it was nothing."

Ash had a feeling she didn't buy it, but she didn't bully him about it anymore. Instead she looked around them with the same nostalgic look in her eye that Ash himself held only moments before.

"Never thought we'd be coming back here. They sure did fix this place up, huh?"

"Well, it _is_ Team Rocket. They probably have a lot of money to spare."

"Right… Team Rocket." Misty bit down on her bottom lip. "You be careful okay? They tricked you last time, I mean, they even got Gary. They don't always fight fair."

They never fight fair, thought Ash with a dry smile. "That's why I wanted you to wait behind in the pokemon center, Mist."

"I'm touched," She didn't look touched. "But you don't have to worry about me. I've handled my fair share of the terrible trio over the years too, you know?"

"It's not those three that I'm worried about."

"Ash Ketchum?"

For the second time that hour, Ash jumped. The two of them turned around to face a burly looking man in a dark suit. Dark shades hid his eyes from the two in his audience. His appearance made not only Ash and Pikachu nervous, but even Misty ducked behind Ash's shoulder. She anxiously eyed his jacket where his hand was concealed. Misty had even enough movies where guns would come out of similar hiding place.

"Are you Ash Ketchum?" The man asked again.

"So what if I am?" said Ash defensively. His eyes were on the concealed hand too.

"Ah. Good then sir. The gym leader is waiting for you. Please follow me."

His face had softened but the hand still remained hidden. He used his other hand to push open the large oak doors. Beyond, just like before, no light filtered in. But at least this time there was no body laying on the floor beyond. Ash hesitated behind with Misty before finally following the man into the lion's den.

They hadn't taken more then five steps inward, when the guide turned around and glared at the red head hiding behind Ash.

"Is something wrong?" Misty snapped back at the man.

He didn't address her. Instead he turned to Ash, "I'll have to request that you tell your friend to leave. There's no audiences allowed in this gym."

"W-what?"

"That wasn't like that the last time I was here!"

"I'm sorry. My boss is particularly firm with the rules. We've had _incidents_ in the past because the challenging trainers had audiences with them."

Both Ash and Misty blanched. Obviously they were the cause of such a rule. It was Gary after all that caused things to not go the way Jessie and James had planned. But that just increased Misty's worry. Then that meant nothing could stop them from cheating this time.

"I'm not an audience!" barked Misty suddenly. "I'm a challenger too! I want an earth badge!"

Ash blinked. "You do?"

"Of course!" Misty shot her gaze back to their guide. "You'll accept my challenge?"

"It's the policy of gym leaders to accept every challenge issued. But all other such challengers must wait outside the gym- for their turn."

Misty scoffed. It was evident that she wasn't going to win this one. With a huff and one last bitter curse over her shoulder, she turned on her heel and left the gym. But only just so. She turned back just past the doorframe, arms crossed and face set.

Ash watched as the doors shut behind them. He watched until he could no longer see Misty's face. Concern filled her face just before he disappeared beyond.

"Good luck," she mouthed. The doors closed, and Ash hadn't the chance to respond.

* * *

**H**igh above the Viridian Gym hung a large balloon in the shape of a tan colored cat- a Meowth of course. For who else but Team Rocket would announce their presence so definitely. 

Jessie leaned over the rim of the basket, staring with her deep blue eyes at the scenery that lay below. Meowth was curled up in the corner dozing, which left only James manning the balloon. He was used to it after all. Both of his partners rarely did anything that required physical labor. That was his job, since thinking wasn't something he was known to do well.

James pulled on the cord releasing more to the flare. Their balloon lifted and glided directly over the gym. Their home base, completely rebuilt. It had been years since they'd actually seen it.

"How's it looking, Jessie?"

"It's… lookin'," replied Jessie with a low sigh. "I wonder why the twerpest came back here of all places. And now the red haired twerp is with him. It's like one huge déjà vu."

"Well he's been retracing his exact steps lately… maybe he lost something."

"I… I don't think that's it, James. If he did why would he be getting all the same badges he did before?"

"Yeah. Good point. It is a complete déjà vu. Except this time, he's plucking up gym badges like a spendthrift millionaire in a flea market."

"Nice analogy, James."

"Thanks," said James cheerfully, completely missing the sarcasm of his female companion's comment.

Jessie sighed again. The weather was beautiful and the wind calm. It made for a very sleepy sort of drift around the Viridian area. Jessie nearly gave a start when she heard something ringing from inside their basket.

"Hello?" said James. He was holding a cell phone of sorts. Jessie's eyes widened. It was their emergency phone. The one they were never allowed to use- only allowed to receive calls on. It had to be something important.

"What's dat? Huh?" yawned Meowth.

"Shush!" shushed Jessie. "It's the emergency phone!"

"Emergency? Does dat mean we be ambushin' da twerp in dat dere gym again?"

"Shut up, will you?"

"Yes. Yes, we understand. Will do, sir." James closed the top of the cell almost sullenly.

"Who was it?" chirped Jessie sweetly.

"Da boss, who da yah tink it is?"

"New mission orders."

Jessie and Meowth immediately fell silent. Suddenly they were sharing James' sullen expression.

"You mean, something new dealing with the twerp's pikachu, right?" asked Jessie nervously. She already knew the answer.

"No. The boss wants us to… travel to Lavender and help a small team capture some of the ghost pokemon there- for research purposes."

"What about…"

"The boss… has no interest in the twerp's pikachu anymore. We are to leave our posts here immediately."

The silence ensued. The three members stared at each other and neither knew what to say. For seven years they'd been on a single mission. For seven years that phone never rang. And now, in the flash of a moment they'd be leaving the twerp alone forever.

"I guess that's it then."

"I don't like it," said Jessie. "What would make him change his mind so suddenly? Is he going to take the twerp's pikachu in the middle of the gym battle by himself?"

"I don't think so. It's strange but I don't think that's it at all… It's just… over."

"Just over…"

"Yeah…" James cast his gaze over the basket.

Somewhere below, the twerp would be starting yet another pokemon battle. He'd be using his same line up. Getting stronger all the time, and now they'd probably never see him again.

This was the start to something. Everything before now had been so predictable. Now James wasn't sure where they were going to go from here. For some reason, James felt sick to his stomach.

"Goodbye Ash."

"Goodbye Ash," agreed Jessie.

"Goodbye Ash. Goodbye Pikachu."

* * *

**T**he room they had walked into was warehouse size. The same beautiful architecture that had graced the outside had traveled in. The atmosphere of this place had always set it apart from the previous gyms. Ash had been to greenhouses, aquariums, even a gym set inside a volcano. But this gym was the only gym he had been in which appeared to have been built with nothing whatsoever to do with pokemon. 

Lights flared on. There was balcony directly in front of him, and in the perch slowly a pair silky red curtains drew back. The large glass window hidden behind the curtains poured in so much sunlight that Ash couldn't exactly tell what was up there. He squinted up at what he thought was a silhouette of a man and his Persian sitting in an armchair.

"Challenger Ash Ketchum," introduced the guide.

The shadow didn't respond. The guide probably didn't expect one. Ash was surprised when the guide walked away into the shadows of the building beyond. Apparently he wasn't even going to referee the battle. Ash wasn't quite sure how he felt about that.

"So you're Mister Ketchum," said the shadow at last. "I've heard a lot about you… You're quite popular with the gyms you've been at. Especially here in Kanto."

Ash grinned, but it wasn't a pleasant one. "And you're the bastard in charge of Team Rocket."

If the man was upset, his voice didn't show it. He only continued to pet his Persian. "I wonder how you came upon that conclusion."

"I wonder how a criminal can continue to run a pokemon gym."

"I wonder how a murderer can continue to train pokemon."

Ash scowled. Pikachu leapt off his shoulder, snarling and cheeks sparking. Ash did nothing to calm it.

"I don't know how you know about _that_, and I don't care. I don't have to justify myself to you."

"Nor I to you, Mister Ketchum. So let's leave our identities behind us, and have a good old fashioned pokemon battle."

"Hm," Ash smiled. "At least we have one thing we can agree upon."

Ash plucked a pokeball off his belt and held it out in front of himself, just like all the times before. Pikachu on his head, smiling.

"_Let's kick some Team Rocket ass." _grinned Pikachu.

"Let's battle!"

Even though Ash couldn't see the man's face, Ash had a feeling he was smiling too.

"Let's start then. " said the man. A pokeball appeared in the man's hand, and he tossed it up into the air. Out of it came crashing a large and impressive boulder pokemon. It roared ominously from its small leathery head. A golem, the pokemon that always reminded Ash of a lizard trapped inside a snowball.

"Six on six pokemon battle. To the knock out. Choose your pokemon."

The pokeball in his hand would be fine, Ash surmised. He tapped the white button and tossed it up. Out spat the familiar red beam, snapping the pokeball right back into his hand.

"_Wassaaaaaaaaap!"_ said the turtle pokemon.

"Squirtle, watergun!"

"_Will do Ash." _Squirtle inhaled deeply and shot out a torrent of cold pokemon born water.

The man in the shadows didn't say anything. Instead he only snapped his fingers. Golem immediately withdrew inside the boulder that was his shell. The water splashed harmlessly against its side.

"Rollout."

Golem startled moving. Both Ash and Squirtle stood ready as the boulder came crashing their way.

"Squirtle! Jump and withdraw!" Ash shouted as the Golem came right before them. Covering his face with his arms, Ash had no time to check if Squirtle obeyed. Pieces of the floor kicked up and bit sharply at his exposed flesh. Pikachu hid its face into the nook of Ash's shoulder.

And Squirtle kicked up high off the gym floor, above the Golem. He had withdrawn into a spinning projectile.

"Hydro pump!" Ash shouted without looking.

Water shot out from the holes in Squirtle's shell, causing the rotation to increase. Soon he was a shuriken of water and shell, slicing down to the waiting rock surface below. The blades of the water struck golem's spinning shell and broke through his rollout attack like a knife cutting through butter.

Golem was thrown backwards. Squirtle landed easily on his back legs with a snide smile similar to the one still on Ash's face.

Ash threw out his arm and shouted an attack that Squirtle himself knew was coming.

"Squirtle, waterfall! Finish it off!"

Squirtle pushed itself off its legs and landed in a handstand right before the bewildered opponent. With a quick spin of its agile body and a large expelling of water into the gym battle floor, Squirtle went spinning upwards into the air. He landed painful blows to the golem's face before completely encompassing the pokemon in a mountain of water.

The water tower collapsed. Squirtle fell easily back down onto earth. Water soaked over the now muddy field. And Golem lay in the middle of the pool of water unconscious.

"Yes!! We won!" Ash cheered as Squirtle ran through the splashing mess and leapt up into his master's arms. They spun around in circles, mud and all, giggling.

_Like children_, thought Giovanni. _His relationship with his pokemon is like a child with their best friend. _ He moved his hand to the next pokeball on his belt.

"Great job Squirtle!" congratulated the young trainer.

"_Well, what'd you expect? I never lose." _

"_Oh really?"_ retorted Pikachu with sparking cheeks.

Squirtle made a face at Pikachu involving his tongue and exposing his eyeball. Pikachu gave chase around Ash's legs, playfully attempting to catch the Squirtle and just slightly smother his ego. Lucky for Squirtle, Ash rescued the turtle with a flash of a capture beam.

"You're up, Pikachu."

Out on the now wet battlefield appeared a Kingler. The field was a perfect conductor now for Pikachu to help take another win.

Pikachu leapt out into battle position, its cheeks sparking.

And Ash hesitated. It certainly seemed easy. He hadn't really thought about it, what with the ease that he had with all the previous gyms. But this gym wasn't supposed to be _this_ easy. It was as if the gym leader was playing with him- handing the battle to him.

He couldn't see his opponent's face. They had no referee. There were a lot of things about this gym that didn't add up. The darkness crept around the corners of the room like a coming unconsciousness. Was he going to be ambushed here? Was the pokemon from his nightmares waiting just beyond the shadows?

Kingler fired a bubble beam. Pikachu waited for a order that Ash almost forgot to give.

"Pikachu dodge!"

Pikachu didn't really need the order, but Ash's hesitation concerned Pikachu. If his master didn't give any orders, spooked by something unspoken, then it meant that pikachu himself would had to be cautious.

The jet of bubbles passed on Pikachu's left, just grazing him. Ash still seemed overly nervous. Was there something wrong that Pikachu himself hadn't caught up on?

"Pikachu… Thunder shock." said Ash.

Pikachu did a double take. _"Thunder shock?! I haven't used that little power in years!" _

Ash's expression was stern. His eyes weren't on the battle. They were on his opponent and flirting briefly with the shadows.

Pikachu understood. Ash was expecting something to happen. And he wanted Pikachu to conserve every bit of strength he could. A gym battle wasn't as important as whatever might happen afterwards.

Pikachu released the electricity. Kingler shook it off. The claw shot forward to clamp around Pikachu's midsection. Pikachu easily dodged it. Another order for a thunder shock. Pikachu resisted the urge to blow the pokemon away. More elusive dancing around the larger pokemon. Slowly they were wearing the Kingler down.

And then Pikachu sensed it. Whatever Ash had been waiting for had come.

"_Pikapi! It's he-!!!"_

There was a crunch as a thick claw collided with Pikachu's face. Blood sprayed from Pikachu's mouth. It sent the little mouse violently tumbling and sliding across the gym floor.

"Pikachu!" Ash cried. Then he saw it.

A discolored smoke poured down from the rafters and over the sides of the wall. Ash's first reaction was cover his mouth and hold his breath. But it wouldn't reach him first. It crept across the floor in thick waves, towards Pikachu. And Pikachu couldn't move.

Ash's insides went cold. The blood pounded in his ears. He was screaming but he couldn't hear his own voice. His legs pushed himself forward. He thought he heard another voice beyond his own. A voice shouting his own name.

And Ash's arms went around Pikachu. His hands went around Pikachu's nose and mouth. Pikachu spit out a tooth and blood ran down Ash's hands. Ash closed his eyes. The fog went over them.

"Don't breathe," he whispered as his head started to swim. "Don't breathe, Pikachu. Just wait…"

And as his vision started to blur, Ash saw two more shapes form beyond the smoke. The man in the chair was standing and shouting. It wasn't until they came out onto the floor that Ash understood why.

They weren't Team Rocket. Their uniforms were bright white.

"Congratulations, Mister Ketchum," said one of them as they approached. Ash had trouble understanding them through the gas mask on their face.

"You're under arrest."

* * *

To Be Continued  
Please R & R!

Yes. I'm evil and proud of it.

And those who think the Team Rocket trio really said goodbye in this chapter, don't know me very well. For since when have those three been good at following Giovanni's orders? Especially in my fanfics.

I hope you all enjoy the continuation. Now is when things start to get good. And for those waiting for Mewtwo- don't worry. He's in this. I wouldn't mention him if he weren't.

Thank you very much to those few who have reviewed. I appreciate each and every one of you. So a loving shout out to those special reviewers thus far: Ri2, Phillip Clark, crazyNproud, Ytak, manga0904, trixy14, and AAML4ife. I appreciate your encouragement in a story that's not always encouraging.

Next time- Ash Ketchum is kidnapped. See you then.


	5. Kidnapped

The Blind Alley

**Disclaimers**: If I owned Pokemon, you would know it.

**AN://** Yet another update. Leaving the introductions behind. Here's where it gets heavy. Revelations galore.

**Last Time on TBA:**

Vidphones, a name, smoke, and a gym battle.

Quote: "Congratulations Mister Ketchum. You're under arrest."

* * *

**Chapter Five**: Kidnapped

No time for goodbye, he said  
As he faded away  
-Three Days Grace

**T**he smoke was a vivid range of the color wheel. Giovanni recognized it immediately. Splashes of color charged through its innards like electricity- too much like electricity. The side effects of inhaling the smoke was a full body paralysis that lasted far longer than any stun powder or electric attack. Giovanni knew because he funded the project of its creation. The plasma clouds: easy to contain and even easier to capture wild pokemon by. Team Rocket used it effectively to capture herds of wild pokemon or more efficiently for robbing unsuspecting trainers.

It poured from the walls like a thick bounding waterfall muted in its terrifying decent. Its first hapless victim would be the pikachu, realized Giovanni impassively. Probably an uncalculated causality of the battle.

His own kingler would be next in line. Not too much of a loss. A simple returning to the pokeball would assure its immediate wellbeing. He followed through with the thought calmly. Kingler escaped into his capture beam and out of harm's reach.

Giovanni, himself, was high up enough to escape the slow moving vapors. And his opponent too, being on the opposite end of the field gave the boy plenty of time to avoid it.

It was a foolish plan, amateur at best. The only ones in line of fire were easy enough to retrieve with a simple capture beam. If the intruder was after the pokemon, they weren't very bright doing so with the two humans still conscious. If the intruder was after something else then clearly their aim had been off.

Unfortunately, Giovanni didn't realize how very well the plan worked until it was too late. The stupid boy ran into the danger zone for his pikachu. And then something unprecedented happened. Giovanni found himself up out of his armchair, knocking the disgruntled persian clear off his lap.

_'Master?'_ said the persian.

Giovanni's eyes frantically scanned the smoke. He couldn't see the boy anywhere. Knuckles turning white in his grip against the guardrail, Giovanni called out to the trainer.

"Ash! Ash where are you?!"

The smoke rose like a filling sea. It seeped up to the edges of their balcony then to the toes of Giovanni's wingtips. Persian exhaled a deep hiss and retreated behind its master's legs. But his master on the other hand, remained resolute and firm. He pulled a remote from his pocket and calmly hit a button. The sea of smoke drained out through the doors Giovanni opened- expelling the smoke. And beneath it laid the white-garbed people he suspected were in charge of the whole fiasco.

"Congratulation Mister Ketchum. You're under arrest." Giovanni overheard one say.

Ash was lying motionless on the floor. Two white ice agents crossed the gym floor, one approaching Ash and the other guarding the exit.

"Don't touch him."

The nearing white ice member glanced up at him. The voice that came through was filtered, deeper and distorted by the mask on his face. "Ah. Giovanni. It's a pleasure to see you again. Keeping out of jail, are we?"

The intruder continued as he spoke. He grabbed at Ash's arms but was startled as electricity shot up his gloves. The bolt was enough to blow a grown man off his feet. The man was very grateful for the extra protection his partner had suggested.

So the trainer wasn't entirely stupid. He had protected his pokemon. Even though he was helpless, his pokemon was only mildly intoxicated by the smog and evidently more than able to protect his trainer.

"Not bad, hotshot."

There was a loud click from the balcony. The intruder looked up to see that Giovanni had removed a pistol from his jacket pocket and aimed it at the man. "I said don't touch him."

He was trapped between a gun and a drowsy but fairly infuriated pikachu. The man knew when he stood no chance. He raised his hands in good humor. "I guess I surrender then."

Giovanni kept his gun trained on the main man. He glanced in the other one's direction just to notice he was no longer there. Only momentarily panicked, Giovanni made sure not to let the other one out of the sight of his gun.

"Don't move." Giovanni climbed into the open side elevator.

He kept his arm steady and the man obeyed Giovanni's command. Neither said anything until both Giovanni and the persian were before the gas masked man. Giovanni glanced at Ash. The boy was watching the whole procession from his downside position. He was limp as a rag doll and unable to do anything about it. But at least the pain hadn't knocked him unconscious.

"Getting awfully worked up about a stranger aren't you, Mister Giovanni?"

"I don't like to be interrupted in my pokemon battles." Giovanni nodded the gun at the man. "Take off your mask."

The man complied. Giovanni's eyes met with a suspicion he already had. A young man with dazzling blue eyes and fine blonde appeared from behind the mask. Ash himself made a small noise in surprise. The boy had to have been only sixteen years old. Perhaps even younger.

"Which one are you, hmm? You must be Clark."

"At your service, Giovanni," He grinned. "Or well, not this time unfortunately. It looks like I decided to turn to the side of the law. Crime doesn't pay as well these days."

Giovanni scowled. "What you do isn't exactly a step above crime."

"Fine, be particular. But technically speaking, I'm on the good guy side."

"Technically speaking, you're kidnapping my gym challenger."

"Kidnapping is such a _strong_ word. And _technically_ I'm arresting him."

"On what charges?"

"Well, he's a suspect in the recent pokemon robberies…"

Ash squirmed and moaned. His face set into a grimace. Pikachu bared his teeth. They both knew full well of what they were being accused of.

"…And unfortunately," continued the agent. "He ran away when we attempted to interrogate him."

"I don't blame him… if this is how you interrogate people."

"Not normally, no."

Clark leaned closer to Giovanni as if to share a secret. "Just between you and me," he whispered. "I _know_ he's not the vigilante."

"Then why detain him?"

"Because those are my orders."

"From who?"

"Telling you that would be against my orders. Even if you _were_ my old boss."

Giovanni cocked his gun. Clark only shook his head, bemused but lips completely sealed.

"There are at least a hundred other young men in the area that fit the description of the vigilante. Why are you after Mister Ketchum?"

"Think _hard_, Giovanni. I'm sure you can come up with the answer to that yourself."

Giovanni face remained set but he gripped the gun harder. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the pikachu doing something with his trainer's backpack. He made sure not to let his eyes linger.

"By the authority of this gym, I must ask you to leave… without Mister Ketchum."

"You intend to shield him from the law-"

"I don't _intend_ to do anything. But I have the authority to control this gym and its occupancy. I was battling with this trainer and so long as he remains housed in this facility he is granted my protection."

Clark laughed. And then he moved too fast for Giovanni to react. Another gun was withdrawn and now Giovanni had a gun to stare down the barrel off.

"I'm sorry to break it to you, _boss_," said Clark with particular venom cocking the newly retrieved weapon. "But your authority waned to lack luster long ago."

"If you won't accept authority then maybe you can understand this. I have men guarding this gym inside and out. Once I give the word, I can have you and your partner easily done away with."

"You mean the six men with the hand guns that we disarmed at the back entrance?" said Clark smugly. "My partner easily took care of the last few guards at the front way too. What kind of game do you think we're playing here, Giovanni? These are the _big leagues_ now. You just don't cut it anymore."

"Perhaps not," interceded a new voice. "But he doesn't have to."

There were two loud cracks of pokeballs hitting the gym floor. Thick bonds fastened themselves around Clark before he even had a chance to see the red flash. Clark's pistol fell harmlessly to the floor.

Clark looked up. The trainer he had targeted was standing erect and fastening the now empty pokeballs back to his belt. He had released two very powerful pokemon. The vine wrap was compliments from the trainer's bulbasaur. A squirtle and a pikachu stood in apt preparation for whatever use their trainer had in mind for them. Not to mention the persian which had now bared both teeth and claws.

"You really _are_ quite good."

_Ugh. These things are nasty_, Ash thought as he spit out the excess of the cheri berry. His mouth felt as though it was on fire. His eyes were even watering slightly by the sheer power of the chili-pepper-like-fruit. He wasn't sure how pokemon could ever manage to eat the things. At least it worked; the paralysis seemed to have gone. He still felt a little lightheaded but at least most of the effects had passed.

Ash bent over to pick up the gun that had been dropped. Fingers grasped at the handle grip, carefully away from the trigger. And after he had it, he wasn't sure what to do with it. He held it at arms length, attempting to find the cartage and then empty it. Unfortunately, he didn't know where it was.

"What's a'matter?" taunted Clark. "First time holding a gun?"

Ash scowled. "It doesn't take a genius to aim and squeeze."

"But apparently it takes one to empty a gun of ammo."

Giovanni took the gun from Ash's hands and easily snapped out the magazine. Bullets clattered messily to the ground. The rest of the gun Giovanni tossed aside, pointing his still loaded pistol at the now captured agent.

Clark noticed that the pikachu was drawing nearer. When the flustered trainer was standing before him again, Clark knew the interrogation was about to begin. He made himself comfortable- or as comfortable as one could get trapped in the vines of a pokemon.

"You're name is Clark?" said Ash skeptically with a half glance at the Viridian City gym leader.

Clark said nothing. Ash nodded to his electric mouse that immediately drew into position. Clark only laughed in response.

"My clothes are completely retardant to electric attacks. We had to protect ourselves from the plasma gas after all. Your pet can't hurt me-" Before Clark could finish that thought, he was suddenly dosed in a heavy amount of water. Spitting out a mouthful, Clark turned his bitter glance to the grinning turtle pokemon.

"Do you know what happens to a non-conductive when covered with a conductive?" said Ash with a nasty grin of his own. Pikachu was too close for comfort now. Electricity practically dripping from the power sacks in its cheeks.

"I believe my name_ is_ Clark, yes," said Clark rather quickly. It was just the answer Ash wanted to hear. He called off Pikachu who sulked in disappointment. Even Bulbasaur sagged with relief.

"And you're a member of White Ice."

"Last I checked."

"Why do you guys keep coming after me? I'm _not_ the vigilante. Hell, you can see yourself I don't even know how to hold a gun."

"You could have been acting."

_"He can't act," _said all three of Ash's pokemon in complete unison.

"I'm not- _sheesh_. I thought this was already over with. I've had alibis for the nights that this guy has attacked your facilities. I know that I resemble him but why can't you all just leave me alone! I'm not him!"

"The facts are this. You are an excellent trainer. Have a grudge against white ice members. And have a criminal record. So we have orders to capture you."

"But you can't do that! I haven't done _anything_!"

"You killed a man."

"I- I was cleared from that… I did not steal any pokemon! So stop harassing me!"

"That's not why they are after you Ash."

Ash turned his attention for the first time since the battle was interrupted completely back on his previous opponent. The way Giovanni spoke was soft- almost unassuming. It was that deep voice curled into anxiety that gave Ash chills. Giovanni knew more about this than Ash did. He _was_ involved.

Ash wasn't keen about trusting Giovanni with the pistol. He wasn't exactly okay with trusting the Team Rocket member at all. But Ash was a very trusting person. Especially when the man had previously fought to save him from being kidnapped. Giovanni appeared to have no benefit for saving him. He just did it. And for that, Ash granted the man temporary trust. Now the trust was waning.

"What? Did you hire them to come after Pikachu?"

Pikachu's cheeks sparked angrily. Giovanni couldn't help but back up at the sight of the Pikachu nearing him. Persian stepped forward hissing and spitting. The pokemon were at a stalemate.

"Jessie and James fail too many times? So now you're hiring these guys to kidnap me?"

"As much as I'd love to see you tear into Gio," interceded Clark. "I hate to be thought a lackey of his. I dumped his ass long ago. I don't need to be carrying around baggage from my previous employment, thank you very much."

"Then… if it isn't because you think I'm the vigilante and not for pikachu…" Ash looked between the two before him confusingly. "Why are you trying to kidnap me? You can't possibly think you can ransom me for anything."

"That's exactly what they plan to do." said Giovanni.

"What?! Why? I don't understand-!"

"It's clear there are many things you don't understand, Mister Ketchum. But you know what? It really doesn't matter if you understand. You're just the victim."

Clark's little speech concluded with the entrance of two people he was clearly waiting for. They appeared across the upper balcony. Pushed along by a young man, almost identical to the one wrapped in bulbasaur's vines, was a disgruntled red head cuffed by the hands.

"Misty!"

Misty looked down. Her irritated expression instantly turned to that of endearment. Ash was there. He would rescue her.

"Ash! Ash, you gotta help me. This idiot took my poke-…"

The look-a-like grabbed Misty hard and pulled her close next to him so there was no mistake who was hostage to who. Instead of looking concerned, Misty's hero scowled.

"Ugh. Misty. Why'd you have to go and get yourself caught?"

All endearment quickly went out the nearest window. "Get myself caught?!" snapped Misty. "Well that's a mighty fine way to- I didn't seek this guy out. Hell, if I wanted to be kidnapped I'd go get myself kidnapped around people who cared about me… unappreciated... bunch of morons… If I could kick your ass right now, Ash… I'd kick your ass… and his ass… and everyone's asses…. I'd get my pokemon… have them kick your ass. And I'd kick everyone else's asses... Then I'd take what's left of your asses and shove them in a jar… and play yahtzee! I don't appreciate…"

She rambled on and most of the occupants of the gym didn't hear half of it. Ash was kind of curious about the mention of yahtzee but he also wasn't sure if it was exactly a metaphor.

Obviously Misty's captor didn't take to the girl's ranting as well as Ash did. He pulled out a switchblade and neatly pressed it against Misty's throat. Silence followed. Now Ash was concerned. They weren't like the Rocket-dan after all.

"Let's negotiate," said Clark evenly. "You for the girl."

Ash and Misty both visibly paled. Giovanni was calculating a move but Ash reacted yet again in a way he hadn't anticipated. The boy snatched the gun from Giovanni's grip and thrust the pistol against the Clark's forehead.

"Let her go or I kill him."

The boy with Misty hesitated. The look in Ash's eyes was unnerving. Even Misty was daunted by how dark his gaze appeared. The Ash she knew would never threaten- never gamble another person's life. The change scared her. He seemed serious.

"Don't…" began Giovanni.

"Go ahead."

Attention turned back to Clark. He was smiling despite the pressure against his forehead. He stared down Ash's own glare confidently.

"You won't pull the trigger. Even when your girlfriend is in danger you can't. It's just not in you. You're soft- a weakling. You're not desperate enough- you don't even know the meaning of desperate."

"Don't egg him on!"

Clark sent a spiteful glare in his partner's direction. Ash didn't look away, pressure still firm. "You should listen to your friend. I don't even have to aim this time, just squeeze."

"Then by all means. But you'll be living with two new murders over your head. Mine and your girlfriend's over there."

Ash mistakenly glanced at Misty's captor. The man pressed the knife tighter against her throat. Blood beaded by the tip of the blade.

"Oh yes," Clark smiled, reading Ash's thoughts. "He's killed people before. Quite a few more than you. He wouldn't hesitate pushing that girl off the balcony there. In fact, I'm sure nothing would give him more pleasure."

"Let her go. She has nothing to do with this."

"You're the only one making this difficult, Mister Ketchum."

Ash lowered the gun. Giovanni moved to take it from him but Ash quickly turned the gun on him instead.

"Don't do this, Ash."

"Shut up. Just stay out of this. I don't need to worry about anymore hostages," snapped Ash bitterly. Pikachu stepped forward to guard Ash against the gym leader. Giovanni was helpless again.

Ash emptied the gun of its ammunition and kicked its remains away from himself. He looked expectantly from twin to twin. It was Clark who spoke despite his disadvantaged position.

"Return your pokemon."

"Not until Misty is safe."

"Return your pokemon or we'll kill her." said the boy with the knife.

"You kill her and I'll have Pikachu here send you the best thunder attack he can muster."

Pikachu was still watching Giovanni. He took the time to turn and smile vindictively, _"With love, of course."_

"Fair enough," responded Clark with a quick nod to his twin.

The twin pushed Misty along to the staircase. They made their way down before being ordered to stop a few yards away from where Clark, Ash, and Giovanni were.

"Return your pokemon."

"Put away the knife."

The boy closed the blade but he kept it at hand. His other hand was at the cuffs around Misty's wrists. She stayed obediently still. Like Giovanni, Misty was waiting for an opportune moment.

"Now return your pokemon."

Ash did what he was told. First squirtle and then bulbasaur. Both pokemon were reluctant to go, but they never fought Ash's orders.

Once free from the vines, Clark stretched. He noticed pikachu. "You missed one."

_"I don't think so, buster,"_ responded the pokemon.

"Pikachu doesn't go into pokeballs."

"Make it, or we'll kill her," said Clark. There was no arguing against that.

Slowly and reluctantly, Ash retrieved the pokemon marked with the lightning bolt. Pikachu watched nervously as Ash slipped on the long pink latex gloves. Putting pikachu in his pokeball was never an easy feat. Ash hadn't done so in several years for good reason.

"Pikachu return."

The capture beam zapped around the pokemon. It wailed as the beam sucked it in. Electricity shorted and danced out from the pokeball and across the gloves. It was several long moments of the ball struggling in Ash's hands before it finally came to a quiet end.

"I'm sorry buddy." Ash said shrinking the ball into its portable form.

"Now remove your pokeball belt and set it aside."

He slipped off the latex gloves. With a slight of hand, minimized the pokeball into an even flatter form. A special benefit for having a custom pokeball made for pikachu excessive voltage. He slipped this unusual sized pokeball between the cloth of his fingerless glove and skin of his palm. The white ice agents didn't notice. All they saw was Ash removing his pokeballs. They didn't bother to count them. A mistake they'd probably soon regret.

The belt was set aside. Eyes were on Ash and not on the gym leader. Which gave him ample time to retrieve a small peashooter from his back pocket. He held it tight, waiting for Misty to be out of range.

"Now let Misty go."

"Sure, sure," said Clark. "Quite the persistent fellow isn't he?"

The opposite agent pushed Misty in front of himself and forced her forward. Ash stood ready to make the same exchange. But Clark was behind him. Giovanni saw what was going to happen too late.

Clark grabbed Ash from behind. Misty screamed. The agent near her hit her over the head with the handle of the switch blade. She fell. Ash's shouts were smothered by a single cloth forced painfully over his mouth and nose. The sweet smell emanating from it instantly brought Ash unconsciousness.

Ash dropped heavily into Clark's arms. Only now was Giovanni able to pull out his concealed firearm.

"Stop!" He shouted.

He had a perfect shot of Clark's head. Persian leapt forward. Clark only smiled. And his twin released a heavy smoke bomb.

Fog instantly erupted once again over the gym floor. Persian crashed into the opposite wall. Giovanni fumbled with his own pokeballs for one suitable to remove the hindrance now set upon them. He came up short changed.

Glass from the skylight showered down from the ceiling like pieces of the falling sky. Clark shot up out of the smoke by a hook shot. His brother followed with the limp pokemon trainer in his arms. Giovanni aimed up with his peashooter. His shots missed and Clark only laughed back at him.

Clark fished into his jacket and tossed down an red envelope. The letter fell expertly at the gym leader's feet. Giovanni only glanced at it to know it was a ransom note.

"Andy sends her love!" called Clark.

Giovanni took a few more pot shots. Clark swung around them. His twin was looking anxious- they weren't climbing fast enough for his liking.

"If I were you, Gio-love. I'd do what that letter tells you. That is if… and I hate to be cliché," Clark added with a spiteful grin. "If you ever want to see _your son_ alive again."

Giovanni continued to fire up at them, even when it was clear they were no longer in range. They reached the roof. Giovanni ran out of bullets. The sounds of a distant helicopter brought on the definite feeling of defeat.

He ripped open the envelope. The letter fell out, folded like a paper fan. And upon reading it, the gym leader hit his knee. It was over. His beloved cat pokemon was crumbled against the wall, unconscious. The woman hostage was starting to come to. Giovanni didn't answer her groans. He didn't move although he wished he could have.

She sat up, disgruntled, and rubbed her head. "What's going on? Where's Ash?"

Her confusion quickly changed into fear. She scrambled over to Giovanni, grabbing firmly onto his collar.

"What did you do to Ash!"

She shook him. Giovanni let her do so.

"He's gone."

"Gone?"

"Gone." Giovanni numbly handed her the letter. "I'm sorry. But I'm afraid your friend has been kidnapped."

* * *

To Be Continued…  
Please R & R!

Welcome, my friends, to the plot.

Special thanks to those who have been with me to this point. Thanks to citrus luver, Anonymous Cat, crazyNproud, ReTerra2cool, and East Coast Ryder. I appreciate the feedback immensely.

Next time we'll learn what's on the ransom note. And Misty gets _a little _help in convincing Giovanni to comply to it.


	6. Ransom Note

The Blind Alley

**Disclaimers**: If I owned Pokemon, you would know it.

**AN://** I apologize in advance. This isn't going to be as action packed as the previous chapter. More emotion than action. Gotta keep things balanced after all. But if you like plot, this chapter will be filled with it. Key players will be introduced. Make sure to pay attention. :D

**Last Time on TBA:**

Paralyzed, gunshots, hostages, and a kidnapping.

Quote: "I'm sorry. But I'm afraid your friend has been kidnapped."

* * *

**Chapter Six**: Ransom Note 

You don't remember but I do  
You never even tried  
-Fuel

**T**he letter shivered in between her fingertips. Despite its reputation it didn't look like a ransom note. There were no clumsy cutout letters glued in a haphazard pattern across the page. Just a simple printed white sheet of paper with two lines, each consisting of one word. Two choices. And neither made any sense to her.

_**1. Location **_

_**2. Blueprints**_

"I- I don't understand," sputtered Misty. "Money, I could get. But this… I don't even know what they are requesting here. What blueprints? What location?"

Giovanni had already cast his persian back into its pokeball while Misty examined the paper. Then he returned to Misty's side with both her bag and Ash's in hand. He dropped them along with Ash's pokebelt next to her, wordlessly.

"Wait." She looked up. Her gaze only briefly met with Giovanni before he looked away. Misty pressed on, undaunted, "This ransom note wasn't addressed to me. Or anyone else Ash knows. It was addressed _to you_… _Why would it be addressed to you?_"

Giovanni chose not to respond. Instead he emptied Ash's pack on the floor. From the mess she watched him sort his way to a makeshift first aid kit that appeared well loved. In it contained a half empty box of band-aids, some aspirin, and a roll of gauze.

"How's your head?"

"Fine."

Misty ducked his attempt of helping her. Instead she took the gauze from his hands and went to clumsily wrapping it around her head alone. Giovanni made no future attempts at helping her.

"So do you have any ideas?" Misty asked while she fastened the bandage in place.

"About what?"

"About what the ransom note is saying. You did read it, didn't you?"

Giovanni stood up. Once again he didn't meet her eye. "No."

"No you didn't read it? Or no you don't know."

"No I won't get involved."

"Won't get-…" Misty jerked to her feet. "Won't get involved? You're already _in-_volved!"

"Please understand me. I do regret what happened to your friend and I did my best to prevent it. But I'm not on best terms with the law, never have and probably never will be, and if I were to try to stick my neck in this for a stranger… It's just not very profitable for me, you see."

"They probably want something from you that you're not willing to give," said Misty slyly.

"Well why would I? He's just a trainer. It's completely ludicrous for them to think of me as a humanitarian. It's like asking a complete stranger to give up valuables for the wellbeing of another said stranger."

Misty frowned. His words made sense but the tone- the taste of his voice made Misty question his honesty. "You're right. That_ is_ strange. I mean, Ash doesn't even _know _you. If they wanted something from you, why kidnap a complete stranger? It's not like a criminal such as yourself would give a damn."

"I never said the ransom note was directed at myself."

"But you also never said it wasn't!"

She caught him there. Giovanni stumbled and let another secret fly.

"Look," started Misty with some caution. "I'm not asking for your life savings. I'm just asking for your help, maybe just some clarity on what they're asking for. You're at least a witness. If we went to the police…"

"No police."

"No police? What do you think they'd…"

"Not at all. I'm just warning you. The police won't be able to help you," said Giovanni. "_They_ own the police."

Misty bit down on her tongue. Though she hated to admit it, he was right. And that's when the despair caught up to her.

_No one will help us, _Misty realized.

Her insides iced up as her mental list of help she might have gotten shrank and shrank. She was left with only a handful of names. And each person had no more power than she herself had. In this situation, they would be seen as the criminals.

Misty kneaded her hands deep into her lap, fighting back tears of frustration. And all she could seem to think of was Ash's stupid grin and how she might not ever see it again.

"Oh _God_," Misty whispered huskily. "We're helpless."

"Yes. We are."

Giovanni was holding the ransom note again. Misty hadn't even noticed him take it from her. But her hands were shaking so badly, she reckoned it couldn't have been too hard.

His expression was grave. But somewhere in his eyes she saw that he was calculating.

"Let's fill the ransom," said Misty with sudden daring.

"What?"

"White Ice, if anything, should be true to their word, right?"

"They are that," answered Giovanni dryly.

"We should fill the ransom then. Ash's life depends on it. A location or a blueprint. Neither of those sounds impossible."

"You don't understand."

"You think they'll take the ransom and not return Ash?" said Misty, voicing her own worries.

"No. That's not… important- Look. It's not whether or not. It's _what_ the ransom is. And what they'll _do_ with it… once they… _if _they obtain it."

And Misty stared. His words stabbed a quick shot of fear to her heart. If anyone in the world had the power to do horrible things, it was White Ice. The ones that had eradicated Team Rocket. The ones the police force looked up to. The leading force to the protection against the sudden wild pokemon attacks. The people looked to them as heroes.

Ash's voice rang in her head again. Ash had doubted the organization's intentions. And now she knew just what he meant. They had too much power. Everyone had given them too much power.

"You mean… something to help them… take over?"

Giovanni scoffed. "Why would they need help with that? They're doing perfectly well on their own I should think."

"Then what?"

Giovanni didn't meet her eye. She repeated the question.

"I'm sorry. I can't fill the ransom for your friend." He held out the letter to her again, but Misty didn't take it. "And I can't tell you why."

"Then what am I supposed to do… What will happen to Ash?!"

"I'm… not sure. I'm sure they won't… kill him."

"You don't believe that! You don't believe they won't kill him! You just won't do anything! You're willing to just let him die, aren't you?" She was shrieking. Frustration and fear, a fear of losing Ash again, was consuming her. She had to do something- anything.

Misty grabbed any part of the gym leader she could reach. She latched onto the hook of his arm and practically drug him to his knees. Her nails dug hard into his flesh. The man inhaled sharply at the sudden pain and weight.

"You're a terrible man! How could you be so heartless? How could you turn your back on us? How could you act as if it doesn't bother you!" Misty screamed. "Ash could die!!"

"He's not my concern!" shouted Giovanni. He swung back and caught Misty in the face with his elbow. He hadn't noticed what had he had done, hadn't felt the blow at all. Misty had collapsed behind him gripping her face that was pouring of blood.

Giovanni stared. Misty stared back with watery eyes and forefingers pressed hard against her nose. The action did little to taper the blood flow. Her vision was blurred by tears and the severe pain that was throbbing from inside the bone. Though she did not think her nose was broken, he had done damage. If Giovanni had any remorse for what he had done, his face did not show it.

Giovanni continued, but softer this time. "He was never my concern. I've played my part- and I tried… you can't say I didn't try to help… him…

Giovanni trailed off. Misty began to wonder if perhaps he lost his train of thought when he suddenly began speaking again, "I wish you luck in finding your friend. But my time is precious and I have pressing business… elsewhere."

And all thoughts Misty might have previously had of Giovanni possibly being a good person vanished as he left her bleeding on the floor.

* * *

**"D**o you know who Ash's father is?" 

Gary looked up so startled that he dropped the magazine he was reading. It fell fluttering to the floor in a similar decent to a dying insect.

"What?" He rasped.

"Ash's father," Misty repeated, feeling an onset of regret. "I don't hear much about him. Maybe… Maybe he would know where Ash was?"

It was a pitiful excuse. Misty nervously twirled the loose strands of hair that had escaped from her ropey braid around her fingers. In the heat of summer she was starting to regret growing out her hair again. Temptation to cut it grew with each scaling degree. But she only did it to surprise Ash when he came back home. If he would come back home. It had been an entire year and neither had a single lead or call from him.

"That would be impossible," snorted Gary, bending to retrieve his fallen reading material.

"How so?"

"Because Ash's father is dead. Everyone knows that."

"Oh."

Misty hadn't. Her remorse grew into a sweltering guilt that rivaled the heat outside.

That would explain why Ash never spoke of him. Misty herself had lost parents when she was very young and had thus been raised by her older sisters. She hadn't known the two of them very well when they passed. Taken by accident in an automobile that Misty didn't even remember the color of, much less anything else. Their death was as foggy as they were. For all she knew her memories of those two could have just been made up in her imagination and sheer desire to remember them. It hurt to feel that absence in her life, the loneliness of missing something that she never quite got to have.

Misty busied herself with her braid, unraveling and quickly reweaving it. Her eyes scanned Gary's small living room, pausing on family portraits and various trinkets playing the shelves in delightful homey patterns. Clutter littered every free table space imagined but not so much that it consumed the room and its occupants. It was a home friendly clutter- proof that people lived here.

"Gary… Did Ash tell you that?"

"Hm?" Gary didn't look up from the magazine.

Misty glanced at the title, _Poke' Daily_. The cover featured a rather beautiful photograph of a Dragonaire in mid-flight with a frothy sea licking at her escaping body. Text framed the image with things like _New Legendary Pokemon? Latest Findings Inside, _and _Tips to Make Top Five- An Indigo Challenger Shares Secrets_ and _Poke'Hotties, Hottest Gym Leaders in Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Beyond. _By just the cover, Misty knew which page Gary would be on.

"Flannery wouldn't have you, Gary. You're just not her type. You should go for a quiet girl like Erica or Roxanne."

Gary snapped the magazine shut, obviously fighting back a blush.

"For your information, it's not just measuring looks. The magazine gives an accurate depiction of what to expect when taking on these gym leaders."

"I'm sure that's exactly why they classified females on page 20-22 and males on 23-25. You know Winona and you would make a interesting couple."

"Shut up," snapped Gary tossing the magazine bitterly onto the coffee table with all intention to leave it there until the end of Misty's stay. "What were you asking? Something about Ash's Dad again?"

Misty's expression fell somber. "Did Ash tell you… that his father was dead?"

Gary exhaled a whistling sigh though curved circle of his lips. He stared Misty straight in the face but fell short of catching her eyes. He spoke to the top her forehead and said, "No. Ash never talks about his father. Not even to me."

"Why? I mean, did you know him? How old was he when he… you know? Does Ash remember him?"

"I don't know. I don't know… anything, honestly. My grandfather told me he was dead. I assumed he learned that from Ash's mom. I… never met Ash's father."

"How long have you known Ash?"

"Uh, iunno. Forever it feels like. It's kind of strange… I'm so used to feeling as if he was always breathing down my neck and now, he's just…" Gary chewed on his lip for a moment before continuing. "I've lived here my whole life. Honestly, I didn't really know Ash all that well before I started school… before my parents started arguing. He was my best friend in early elementary school although he always seemed to be trying to make a contest out of everything."

Misty raised her eyebrows and Gary couldn't help but smirk. "Yeah well, I guess I contributed in that. We were rather close until my parents got divorced… then well, everything kinda fell apart.

"Ash didn't understand. I mean, he never seemed have two parents so he wouldn't know what it would be like to have to chose sides… having the two of them fight over you and your sister like you were some kind of object- some kind of prize… victory to a won argument. He couldn't possibly understand. Hell, I hardly understood it…

"Anyway we… separated. Ash went his way and I went mine… I-I might have said things I regretted but… I regret a lot of things I did back then. I was barely nine…"

"I'm sorry," said Misty sorrowfully. Her braid had now become unfurled in her nervous habit, cascading like an orange waterfall to her breast. Gary tried not to notice her sympathy. He also tried not to notice that she was quite beautiful.

"It's alright. My dad's not too bad a roommate," said Gary with a grim smile. "Me and my sister never got along very well with our mother anyway. She wasn't… really ever around. Obsessed with her work, like grandpa… I may have inherited some of that from them."

He laughed. But it was a sad laughter, ringing with unforgotten aches and wounds. Misty carefully guarded her own heart from prejudice. She didn't know Gary's mother and had no right to judge her.

"So no, I never knew Ash's father," finished Gary hastily. "I never thought to ask much of it. I assumed it would be bad to mention it. No desire to stir up calm waters, you know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I guess so. I just thought… maybe he had something to do with this."

Gary chuckled and shook his head while picking up a fashion magazine from the table next to him. Probably belonging to his sister May.

"Trust me," he said as he leafed his way through the pages of disproportional model after disproportional model. "Ash's father has _nothing_ to do with this."

* * *

**T**he sun bled down through pink clouds. It was sunset when Misty walked out weighed down by two bags and the guilt of knowing. She rubbed dry blood flakes between her fingers, ignoring the metallic taste running down her throat. She wasn't bleeding anymore, but she still looked like hell. 

If someone hadn't known any better, they might have thought someone beat her. She sort of felt like someone had. Slightly worse for wear, she was plagued by not only her own injuries but of a helplessness she could do nothing to heal.

Misty glared at the dying sunlight. Tears welled up once more in the corner of her eyes as she tried to think of anything but their current situation. She tried not to think of Ash's fate or how she would have to tell his mother. She tried not to even think of Ash anymore. But her heart wouldn't let her erase his face from her mind.

_He's dead,_ she told herself angrily. _He's gone. Stop it._

But the tears fell anyway. They fell faster then she would wipe them away. She released horrible choking sobs but refused to buckle beneath them. She kept her chin up and cried unashamed to no audience.

A muffled melody wafted through her mourning suffixing the weeping to a beat. Misty sniffed, wiped her face as clean as she could manage with the back of her hand, and glanced around for the source of the sound. It took her a few more minutes before she realized it was coming from Ash's pack.

She set the bag down on the cobblestone path and squatted down next to it. She gripped the zipper and pulled back- opening the grinning mouth. Music spilled from the opening. She felt anxious as she fumbled through Ash's personal belongs. It certainly wasn't her place to look where she was unwanted. But he wasn't here to stop her and the bag was entrusted to her after all.

Misty's fingers hit cool plastic. She snatched the object hastily and yanked it out of the bag as if it might burn her. It was cell phone. Unlike everything else in his belongings, it looked plain and ordinary. Almost too ordinary- rather cheap too. The melodic ring tone it sang sounded suspiciously like a song Team Rocket might have sung to them once upon a time. It was irritating enough to fit the bill.

Misty snapped the flap of the phone opened and held it cautiously to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hello? Hey, who's this?" A oddly familiar voice echoed from the receiver.

"Who are you?"

"Who am I? I'm calling to speak to Ash. This is his cell phone right? Where's Ash?"

"Gary?" Misty guessed. "This is Gary right?"

"Who's this?"

"It's me, Gary. It's Misty." Her friendly tone changed when she realized just what she had discovered. "You had Ash's cell phone number and you didn't tell me-us… didn't tell us? Ash's Mom, Tracy, Brock and everyone else?"

"Uh, I'm really sorry. I mean, I would have but he told me not to tell you… But hey- that's not the point… what are _you_ doing with Ash's phone?"

"Um… Actually it's kind of hard to explain." Misty closed her eyes for a moment. She hoped she could find some sort of courage behind their blind oblivion. But the sunlight still seeped in like blood beneath her lashes. She had nowhere to go. Reluctantly Misty opened her eyes again.

"I'm listening."

* * *

**L**ight from the computer monitors sprawled across his face unattractively. It lengthened the shadows already nestled in the shallow valleys of his features. 

Face fixed with a purpose, Giovanni scanned rows upon rows of scrolling text. His fingers anxiously flirted with the keys, the push becoming more and more forceful as the minutes grew longer. Then all at once his anxiety subsided. It was done. The screen went blank and with it- so did the light.

He regrettably flinched as a sudden ringing pierced the silent atmosphere. Giovanni suspected who the caller was without even checking the ID- not that there was one. He hesitated. What would happen if he turned back now? He didn't have to go down this road. There was still time to save himself and keep out of this.

He picked up the receiver. There was no visual on the other line, just a voice. A snide condescending voice of a champion who's come back to rub shit in the loser's face.

"You've wiped your computer. What a shame. It was fun having a closer- more personal tab on you."

"Hello Andromeda."

The voice on the line was anything but feminine. Deep and scratching, it sounded more robotic than human. Which was perhaps precisely the point. But he knew her. Nothing could mask her presence. He had been expecting her call ever since he had received the red envelope.

"Gio-darling. I'm touched you knew it was me."

He had hoped that she wasn't the one who'd unraveled his own best kept secret. He'd have rather anyone had found out before her.

"Don't bother tracing the call. Or recording it. I'm on a secure line."

Giovanni moved his hands away from the keyboard. "I guessed it would be too good to be true."

"Give me some credit, Gio-baby. I did steal your enterprise out from under you with little to no effort..." The tone changed to one more sinister. "And your son."

Giovanni said nothing but his knuckles whitened as he gripped his armrest unnecessarily hard.

"No cliché and overdramatic comeback? Come on, Giovanni. You take the joy out of gloating."

"I wouldn't give you the satisfaction."

"I bet you're really wondering how I figured it out, huh?"

Giovanni said nothing.

"Since you wouldn't help us in our cause, I figured we'd have to give you incentive. Destroying your organization and depleting your finances didn't do it. So it had to be a hostage. I knew you had a relationship with that little whore of yours but she'd be kind of hard to kidnap. Especially with all the work you did in erasing her from media and public existence.

"You don't care about yourself. And she was inaccessible. So who was left? Well no one. It was quite frustrating really. I couldn't ruin you completely or else you'd lose your value wouldn't you? I was an impasse.

"But then a miracle came to me in the form of Cassidy and Butch." Giovanni groaned unintentionally. Their treachery wasn't taken well. They were popular and several underlings, that while useless alone made up of a large portion of the Team Rocket population, went turncoat with them. "Yes, you remember them don't you? Rather useless recruits but they did supply me with a tidbit of information that made them quite worth their worthlessness.

"It was those missions that you occasionally assigned to them in the vicinity of said Agents Jessie and James. Possibly the saddest and most miserable agents in your whole arsenal. It was just a brief mention. But it was evident that any time these agents met up with the other agents their missions failed.

"At first I wrote it off as it being the influence of the other two said agents. Until I noticed how lenient you had been about punishing these failures. Out of curiosity I discovered something else. The crucial detail. Agent Jessie and Agent James had been on the same unsuccessful mission for the past seven years."

Giovanni gripped his chair harder, repressing the urge to destroy the telephone, the computer, the speaker, and anything else connected to the woman's phone call. She was on. She was dead on. How could he have been so stupid to leave such an obvious trail?

"Seven years is a long time for any mission. Much less a continually unsuccessful mission," continued the bodiless voice. "And after a pikachu. A _special_ pikachu, the mission reports say. Over and over there is mention of this _special__ pikachu_. But I never once read any detail to why this pokemon was so spectacular. Just that Giovanni thought it was special and wanted it.

"It was curious. If it were such a _special_ pikachu why not get better agents out to capture it? Those idiot agents ate up your funds on expensive equipment to capture a single pikachu. Again and again the attempts to capture it were foiled. But you went to no attempts to get different agents on the case.

"Then I thought, what if the pikachu isn't the target at all? What if these idiot agents had a more important purpose? What if these idiot agents were placed there to never capture said pikachu but to keep track over a person…?

"Genius really. What better way to keep track of a person than to look like you were their enemy- attempting to steal from them? By making at sure that it would always fail? You were training this person to fight you. You were training this person from a distance to be strong.

"The question then became who? Well the other two children traveling along with pikachu could easily have left the pikachu at a drop of a hat for other obligations. It could only logically be the trainer of the pikachu that you were tracking. And imagine my surprise when I found what his name was… Ash _Ketchum._ The same last name as your whore. Turns out there _are_ consequences to one night stands, huh Giovanni?"

Giovanni had gritted his teeth into a grimace. His will to stay silent had given out to rage, "If you hurt him, even a little… I swear, I'll-"

"Please, Giovanni. I'm no longer in the mood for clichés. Besides, your baby boy is perfectly safe in our care. So long as he stays a good little boy, we won't have a reason to discipline him… so long as you are a good little boy too."

"You mean if I fill the ransom."

"That's exactly what I mean, Giovanni."

"The location is not yours to know. I would go to my grave before I told anyone."

"Would you let your son take your place then?"

Giovanni chose not to answer her, "The blueprints you ask for. I'll destroy them if you don't give Ash back to me."

"Well in that case… I'll give Ash back to you in a long wooden box." The voice laughed a high unnatural laugh. "You tried that before Giovanni. Destroying the machine so I couldn't steal it. Honestly, it's too precious a machine to erase its existence completely. Deep inside you want to know too… if it will work."

"I could easily give you a fake…"

"And I could easily kill your son. Look Giovanni, sweetheart. You've lost. Give me the location or give me the blueprints. If you don't, I'll kill your son. Simple as that. Give me fakes, I can easily find the boy again. Or your little whore. It makes no difference to me."

Giovanni sucked in a breath. The negotiations were over. He had no more choices than he started with.

"I'll give you what you want. Just don't hurt Ash."

"Very good. Very good. You'll get your rendezvous in a week."

"A week-!"

"I'll keep in touch. Ah, and Giovanni… please. I just want to hear it once."

He ground his back teeth. "What?"

"You know. I just want to hear it."

"That you're a dirty sonva-"

"No the other one. You know it. Come on, I know you know it."

Giovanni forced himself to speak just for Ash's sake. "You'll never get away with this."

She laughed shrilly and loud. Giovanni slammed the receiver back so he didn't have to hear her anymore. Her laugh still echoed in his ears. But she didn't realize that he meant it this time. Giovanni wasn't a man to cross twice.

* * *

**S**he told him everything. The tale was spoken uninterrupted. It unraveled slowly at first. Guilt pushed her faster and faster until the words were practically being vomited out of her. 

Gary said nothing for several minutes after she finished. Perhaps he was taking it in or accessing just how crazy Misty was. It did seem a fairly farfetched tale, that was if you didn't know Ash. If you knew Ash, then you had probably lived through more unthinkable ones.

"Are you alright?" He said at last.

It wasn't what Misty expected. She sniffed and wiped away at her damp cheeks. She hadn't realized she had been crying until he asked.

"I'm fine." But she sounded unconvincing. "I just don't know what to do. I mean- I _just_ found him Gary. After all this time! I found him again and I thought I could… Oh God, Gary… I never told him and now he might… he might not ever… he might…"

"Misty, I want you to take a deep breath." She did, reluctantly. "Another… Good. It will be alright. I promise we'll rescue Ash. So don't cry anymore."

"Where are you?" asked Misty weakly, rubbing her face free from any leftover tears.

"Believe it or not, just short of Pallet. I was on my way home when I called to check up on Ash. I was even in the Viridian Center this morning for a quick break. Geez, you know I must have just missed you guys."

Gary must have sensed how still truly upset Misty was, for he quickly added. "I'll be up there in an hour at the most. Fearow can fly viciously fast when I need him too. Just wait in the pokemon center, _breathe_, it will all be okay. Ash has been in worse shit over the years. Believe me."

Misty nodded even though he couldn't see her. She couldn't quite muster up the strength to answer him.

"I'll see you in a few."

"Fly fast."

Gary chuckled in response then hung up. The dial tone poured its monotonous song over Misty like a dying waterfall. She listened to it out of comforts sake. It somehow reminded her of the ocean.

When she finally put the phone away, her hand graced something just near the top of Ash's clothes. It was a paper- _a photograph_, Misty corrected herself when she pulled it out. And it was a photograph of both her and Ash. No one else. He was in her chokehold, both of them smiling with perfect timing to the camera flash. Ash's smile to her had always looked forced until now. They were barely eleven.

It brought a smile to her face. And a plan to her mind.

* * *

To Be Continued…  
Please R+R!

Ah, yeah sorry. No Ashy boy this chapter. Not even a flashback. He's kind of out of commission. But Gary is always fun, no?

Hope you enjoyed the story thus far. It certainly is one of my more complicated ones.

Thanks to those who have reviewed thus far, citrus luver, Aireless byrd, kettish, Naruto Ninja44, crazyNproud, and ReTerra2cool. You make each chapter more bearable to post.

Next chapter, Misty convinces Giovanni to _help _them. Gary and Misty both find out a bit more about Ash's past than even Ash knew. And someone we've been waiting for enters the scene at last.

Please review. Your patronage is much appreciated.


	7. Plan of Action

The Blind Alley

**Disclaimers**: If I owned Pokemon, you would know it.

**AN://** Unfortunately I lost a previous version of this chapter when my computer crashed. So that's my main excuse for the delay in between chapters. Beyond that, I have a mother load of other generic excuses to give you, if you should so please.

I was informed my flashbacks were confusing. So I will let you all know, flashbacks always frame the real story. Ash ran away from home when he was thirteen. So anything dealing with tracking a runaway Ash down is a flashback. The kidnapping is the present.

**Last Time on TBA:**

A ransom note, pointed blame, phone calls, and a cry for help.

Quote: "Ash has been in worse shit over the years. Believe me."

* * *

**Chapter Seven:** Plan of Action 

Your tears don't fall  
They crash around me  
-Bullet For My Valentine

**I**t was a routine jump. Though, that kind of thinking usually leads to mishaps like this. He had done this several times without even the slightest problem. They practically drilled the motions to death, just to make sure this sort of thing wouldn't happen. Ash had no actual concept of the risk they always told him he was taking.

Ash knew there had to be a reason he signed a waiver before taking these classes. He signed it under Gary's name, but that was besides the point. He was still responsible for it.

Aerial jumps were typically done with saddles. Beginner Aerialist were required to own and use their saddles with every flight. But at a certain level, there were those that decided to learn less conventional skills. Bareback flying was one of those skills- for when a saddle is inconvenient or unreliable.

Bareback aerial tricks, like jumping from one aerial Pokemon to another, was taught only to the most elite, fearless, and foolish of the aerialist students. Ash met those requirements to a T.

Ash had always preferred learning on Charizard. But since most aerial Pokemon were not built like the dragon type, Ash was forced to practice most of his jumps off Pidgeot. There was a considerable difference between the two's flying styles. Charizard was all power while Pidgeot was much faster.

Thinking back on it now, Ash figured it probably wasn't very smart to switch to using Charizard when he was still working on aerial jumps.

Julie, his aerial trainer and daughter of the aerial school's founder, was a terrific aerialist. She was barely eleven years old but her grace in the air was rivaled to none. With strong arms and precise balance, she was able to pull off even the most difficult aerial tricks in seeming ease.

But where she excelled in aeronautics, she lacked in social skills. On the ground, Julie was a soft spoken brunette with a crew cut; containing of both considerable modesty and little backbone. So when the fourteen year old pleaded with her to use Charizard in the jump, she could hardly say no. Besides, Julie found the boy's enthusiasm for aeronautics attractive. Not to mention that he was a very charming and handsome Pokemon trainer to begin with.

"Please please please, Julie-sensei! I want to learn to fly both kinds! How am I suppose to learn if no one will teach me?"

Julie gritted her teeth. He really was too forward. His face was too close to her own- a very uncomfortable position to be in with one's own pupil.

She had only taken two others in the air under her instruction before._Gary_ was the third. He was more promising than the other two, but also the one lacking the most discipline. Like his Charizard.

Julie cast a nervous glance at the lizard and then back to the trainer in front of her.

"But you know you really shouldn't be trying a dragon type when you haven't yet mastered Pidgeot. You're going to get me into trouble, Mister_ Oak_."

Ash smiled. He knew he had won his sensei over.

Julie held up a finger. "One jump."

And one jump was all it took. The take off was smooth. Even though Ash had little practice with his Charizard, his control was sublime. Julie was impressed. She flew her Pidgeot into position beside Ash's larger Pokemon. Ash waved and grinned over to her through his mouth guard.

He always complained about the safety gear. Aerialist students were required to wear helmets, mouth guards, and goggles as protection. Not to mention a parachute- in the case of emergencies. A parachute excusal was granted in the case of skilled students, and of Ash. But still Ash whined. In real case scenarios, Ash argued, the safety gear was impractical. And Ash was always thinking of real cases. As if he were training for some grand scheme.

Which, Julie thought while strapping the goggles over her eyes, he probably was. They were at a level altitude, at least fifty some feet in the air. The wind was calm and predictable.

Julie gave the signal with a twist of her wrist. Ash leveled Charizard's flight off and pushed himself up onto the pokemon's shoulder blades. Once he was steady enough to stand, Julie spun around on her saddle so as to help Ash make the jump should he land awkwardly.

Ash bent his legs.

And it probably would gave gone without a hitch if they hadn't hit pocket in the air. Charizard lost momentum. Pidgeot rose with the updraft. When Ash jumped there was no longer any place for him to land.

Ash didn't scream. His decent was muted, almost passive for such a long drop.

Julie immediately righted herself and sent her Pidgeot in a nosedive after him. She stretched out her arm as far as it could reach. Which wasn't long for one of her stature.

Ash reached out to her in return. He wasn't frightened, merely confused. As if it were puzzling, this dreamlike fall of his. She grabbed him by his wrist. But Pidgeot leveled off too quickly and Ash slipped through her fingers. Julie could only watch in horror as Ash was swallowed up into the tree tops.

In all honesty, Ash didn't feel a thing. He blacked out long before.

* * *

**G**ary didn't like to run. But in this case, he made an exception. Just because it was a downhill run into Pallet did not make the job any less taxing. His legs burned and sweat bled into his eyes. He was racing the sun. He needed to be in Viridian before nightfall. 

So far he was making pretty good time. The sun was resting just above the trees and he was nearing on his grandfather's laboratory. Dust kicked up as he ran down the dirt path next to the Pokemon pastures. There was still at least a mile of farm land to run before getting to his own house.

Once again, Gary contemplated just using one of his Pokemon to get to his house. But if he were spotted making such a dash, people would know something was up. At least at this pace, Gary could just write it off that he was trying to get home before dark.

The path snaked and forked through the hilly lawns of green. East from the Laboratory, Gary's father, Craig, still lived. Gary's mother, Karen, much like her grandfather, was a controlling high paced workaholic. She had Craig wrapped around her finger since they first started dating. He took her maiden name. He stayed at home with the kids. And he withstood the control for fourteen years, before he finally broke.

Craig snapped, the divorce papers were signed, and Gary hadn't laid eyes on his mother since. Taking his father's side, Gary couldn't bring himself to see her again.

After his first year of Pokemon training was up, May went and finished high school. She applied and was accepted to college, graduated four years later, and got herself a good job in a law firm. Much like her mother.

So it was just him and his dad now.

Gary slowed his run down to an eventual rolling stop. The yellow house was quiet. Gary spotted his father's red convertible parked in the drive. He knew his father had to be home.

He let out a low exhale. Trying to think of some excuse so as not to get the usual welcome back salutations.

Gary pushed open the chain link fence, avoiding the slobbery kisses aimed at him from the worst guard dog in the world. The Growlithe yipped playfully, pawing at his legs and blinking puppy dog eyes.

"Shush, you stupid mutt," Gary chuckled pushing the dog off him. "I can't play right now."

The screen door opened and Gary looked up. Craig stood there, looking peculiar. He had a mixture of surprise and almost, was it… resentment?

"Gary?"

"You don't look happy to see me." Gary baited off the Growlithe with a squeaky toy in the guise of a bone. He dusted off his knees and stood up to face his father.

"No, no of course I'm happy," laughed Craig nervously, taking his boy by the shoulders. "It's good to see you- great to see you! …I just wasn't expecting you, home so soon. Good God, did you run the way here."

Gary laughed, "Just about. Look, I'm not staying long. Just here to pick up some supplies really…"

Gary trailed off at the sound of a feminine voice coming from beyond the screen door.

"Craig, who is it?"

It hit Gary then why his father looked so surprised to see him. Gary sent his father a sly smile that Craig responded to with only a sag in his shoulders.

"It's my son. Gary- back from Pokemon training."

Beaming a smile so bright that Gary swore could act as a lighthouse on Pallet beach, Delia emerged. She looked hardly a day older since Gary last saw her two years before. A few gray hairs more wiser, but still brilliantly beautiful and oblivious.

"Gary! Oh Gary, it's so good to see you, dear. How have you been?"

"Just fine, Mrs. Ketchum."

"Your father just fixed this fabulous dinner- would you like to join us, Gary? We're having Lasagna. Your father's garlic bread is simply to die for."

"Ah no. No thank you," answered Gary eying his father's agitated expression. "I really just came by to say hello. I can see your busy…"

"Not at all, Gary dear. Please. Stay. Have dinner with us."

"I really can't. I made other plans. Urgent. I just needed to pick up a few things… Dad," Gary looked to his father again, relieved to see that Craig appeared a little less indignant. "Where- where's my saddle again?"

"Fearow's? I think I put it in the garage."

"Ah great. Could you get it for me? I really just need to grab a few things- up in my room. Be just a sec."

"Gary."

Gary stopped midway up the stairway and looked down. Craig had almost left the room, also halted by the tone in Delia's voice.

"This doesn't have something to do with… Ash does it?"

"No… No. Why would you think that?"

Delia didn't answer for a moment. It was then that Gary mentally berated himself for responding too quickly. Should he have acted shocked she asked? Or would have hesitation showed more guilt? Gary wondered if Delia was pondering the same as deductions herself.

"I'm sorry. It's just that- aren't you afraid of heights?"

"Um no. Just not a fan of Pokemon aeronautics. I just got the saddle to speed race, flying low to the ground. It's a trust issue, really- I'm working on it."

And Gary continued up the stairs to avoid meeting Delia's eyes. Ash's mother could be pretty unnerving when she knew you were hiding something. And she always knew when you were hiding something.

* * *

**A**n unusual phone call came ringing one afternoon at the Oak Laboratory. It was a year- almost two years- into Ash's self made exile. Gary was home visiting, helping Tracey clear out the office when it happened. Tracey answered it.

The screen flickered to life showing not a person but rather flashing bold red letters that read "Emergency Call". Often Pokemon hospitals did so to save on the electricity. Though Gary figured it was mostly just for employee privacy. Visual phones did leave things a bit too personal. Being the bearer of bad news was bad enough without the receiver knowing what you look like.

Tracey never liked one sided calls. He always answered the phone with the visual off. It was a distinct advantage in this particular situation.

"Hello? Professor Oak Observatory. How may I help you?"

"This is Chiffon regional hospital calling for a Mr. Samuel Oaks… in regards of his grandson."

"His… grandson?" repeated Tracey glancing Gary's way. Gary set down the textbooks he had been sorting. He had only been partially listening. But at the mention of himself, his interest peaked.

"Yes. Mister Garrison Oak currently enrolled in the aeronautics academy here in Chiffon."

"In Chiffon? Isn't that in northern Kanto?"

"Yes sir."

Tracey muffled the speaker with his hand and turned to Gary who had come beside him.

"Have you ever been to Chiffon?"

"No," answered Gary honestly. "That's in the Iroh mountain range. You'd have to fly to even get through the pass. And an aeronautics academy… I hate flying. Why on earth would they think I enrolled there… unless…"

And the gears began to turn. Gary slowly came to realize what the phone call meant.

"Please sir. Is Mister Oak present? The matter _is_ urgent," said the person on the phone.

"Yes. Yes, I mean no. I'm sorry. But Mister-"

Gary shoved Tracey out of the way and mustering the best impression of his grandfather's voice he could, he answered.

"Oh yes. Hello. This is Professor Oak speaking. Who is this?"

Tracey grabbed for the phone but Gary pushed him back. The Pokemon researcher's face was livid.

"You can't possibly expect to imitate-"

"This is Chiffon Regional Hospital, sir. We are calling on behalf of your grandson, Garrison Oak. He was injured in an accident at the Chiffon Pokemon aeronautics academy earlier this morning. Your grandson does attend the academy here sir?"

"Yes yes. He does," answered Gary briskly still fighting Tracey off.

"We are holding him here, sir, for treatment. You did sign the waver so the academy cannot be held accountable for his injuries. But if you would like him transported to a private physician nearer home, there is transport available. The academy is prepared to endorse you the full amount of lessons paid for this semester, if you should chose to withdraw him from his schooling."

"No need. Just perhaps until he gets well."

"Very good, sir."

_What are you doing?_ mouthed Tracey. But Gary ignored him.

"I'd like to see him… no I mean. Perhaps I could send someone up to asset his- to… well I'm sure he'd like to see a friendly face, right."

"Sir?"

"Would it be alright for someone to come see him?"

"Of course, sir. We will have transport made readily available for you."

"Oh, not me," said Gary quickly. "I'm much too busy. But a friend… A personal friend of mine."

"Who should we be expecting then, sir?"

"A Mister Ashton Ketchum. "

Tracey's eyes widened slightly but said nothing.

"Very good, sir. We will send transport to Pallet immediately. Thank you."

"No. Thank you."

Gary hung up the phone. Immediately Tracey took the chance to speak.

"What's going on? Why is someone impersonating you?"

"Not someone. I think it's Ash."

"You mean to think that Ash is in Ch-"

"I'm going to Chiffon. Don't let Gramps know where I've gone, got it? This stays between us, do you understand me?"

"But Gary-"

"I said do you understand me?"

Tracey cowered slightly under Gary's piercing glare. He swallowed a small, "yes" and looked away before adding. "But why must we keep this secret… if we really found Ash?"

"Because… Ash ran away once. He's more than capable of running again. And…" Gary smiled swinging on his light overcoat jacket. "I'm much faster than an angry mob."

* * *

**T**he cookie was really ugly. Probably the cookie cutters of Bulbasaur and Charizard cut the dough too close to each other. But whatever the case, Misty was left holding probably the world's ugliest cookie. She twisted it around in her hand like a talisman. Pikachu had been carrying it around with him before both he and Ash were kidnapped. 

Misty got little comfort in finding only five pokeballs on Ash's belt. Ash had taken Pikachu with him. At least he had been thinking ahead, sort of. Except this meant that the two of them were in danger. And the two of them against the entire white ice organization were not the best of odds.

The night air was only slightly chilling. She sat outside the Pokemon center, illuminated in the street lights golden glow. Occasionally Misty looked outside the circle of light but saw nothing. It was black and bleak.

Misty let out a low sigh, twisted the stale cookie around in her hands again, and to no one in particular, whispered, "God, I hate waiting."

A piercing cry shattered the night as if to answer her whisper. Misty shot up quickly from where she was sitting. She cast her gaze up to the night sky and searched them desperately for the large bird she knew had to be close by.

Misty stood surrounded in bitter silence. She grabbed at her chest clutching a fistful of her shirt; heart beating against her clenched fingers. She thought she heard a grating tussle against the gravel rock way, not far from where she stood. But it being so dark, all she could see were misleading shadows. She suddenly felt very exposed.

"Gary? Gary Oak, is that you?"

No answer but a shuffle of footsteps. Or at least what Misty assumed were footsteps.

"Gary come on. This isn't funny. Come out. Now. I'm not kidding."

Fearful, Misty thought of her chances if whatever came out of the shadows weren't Gary. What if it was a wild Pokemon? Like the ones that had been killing people? Or what if it was a stranger- a white ice member come to take out any witnesses? And here she was, standing in a spotlight. The nearest person was Nurse Joy, tucked in bed quite far from hearing any screams.

Somehow knowing this made Misty feel braver. No one could save her? Fine. She'd save herself. She kept this resolution firmly in mind as she reached for the nearest pokeball on her belt.

"One last warning."

And Gary stepped calmly out of the shadows leading his Fearow in tow. Both were loaded down with supplies in satchels and knap sacks, that Misty knew had preoccupied most of his time in loading and traveling here. The relief on Misty's face was evident. She lowered her readied hand.

"Hey Misty." said Gary with a gentle smile. "Sorry for the wait."

Without a single word, Misty ran up and enveloped Gary in a deep hug. And Gary was very careful in returning it.

When Misty noticed his hesitation, she awkwardly broke from him. There was an uneasy smile on her face that Gary reciprocated.

Then she slapped him. Gary fell back, astonished.

"That's for lying to me."

"About what?!"

"About knowing where Ash was."

"I didn't know where he was!"

"You had his cell phone number."

"I can explain that!"

"Can you?"

Gary faulted at Misty's cross expression. "Uh. No I can't. But- I can assure you, I did _not_ know he'd be in Viridian!"

Misty's face softened. "I know… Look, I'm sorry for-" She gestured to his face and Gary just shrugged.

"No. It's okay."

"Thank you."

"What for?" said Gary pulling on the reigns of the restless Fearow.

The Pokemon was far from tired. It was anxious having flown so close to the ground for such a distance. It wanted to take flight again much higher up this time. But Gary and its load were preventing it from doing so. And Misty's sudden anger to his master did not ease it's spirits any. Misty was just lucky that it was tethered.

"For coming at such short notice."

"Well it was an emergency."

"Yeah I suppose so."

Her eyes met his. For a moment, Gary felt as though she could read him. He looked away rashly, excusing himself to fiddle with the load on Fearow's back.

"I am really sorry about taking so long. I was kinda… interrogated by Ash's mom," grunted Gary as he unstrapped pack after pack from Fearow's saddle and dropped them hastily into either Misty's waiting arms or to the ground.

"Ash's mom?" replied Misty.

"Yeah. She was suspicious but I think I was able to bait her off."

"No. I mean, what was she doing at your house?"

"Oh that," Gary dropped his own backpack at his feet. "I think she and my dad are dating."

"Oh." Misty's eyebrows raised and her lips curled into a small smile. "Awkward…?"

"Just a little."

"So what's all this?"

"Just some tools. In case, we are going against White Ice. Unlike Ash, I don't believe in being over prepared… or winging it."

"Ash_was_ a fan of winging it."

They shared a brief laugh that quickly fell into uncomfortable silence. That is until Misty looked over at Gary and said, "This seems familiar."

Gary cleared his throat and carefully avoided her look.

"Gary…"

Gary returned Fearow to his pokeball and then hastily preoccupied himself with picking up the luggage and preparing to cart it into the center for the night. Joy graciously kept the center open for them, no doubt thanks to Misty's urgings.

"I don't know what you mean," Gary said at last. He walked through the sliding doors. Misty followed him with a load of her own.

"Gary please. If it's going to be awkward between us… For Ash's sake we need to work together."

Gary dropped what he was carrying, just inside the doors. Misty cringed, afraid that she had said one thing too many.

However, when Gary spoke, his voice was small. "It's always for Ash, isn't it?"

"Gary…"

"No, no. It's okay," said Gary quickly. He turned back to her with a painful smile on his face. "You're _in love_ with _him_. I know that."

"Gary. What happened between us… You have to understand..."

"We'll rescue him." Gary interrupted. Misty met his determined gaze with one of her own.

"I know but-"

"This isn't about me, Misty."

"Gary-"

"Misty, I promise you. I _promised_ you. My feelings… they aren't important. Ash is. And _we will_ rescue him."

Misty relented. "Okay, Gary. Okay."

"Friends?" said Gary holding out his hand. Misty took it in agreement.

"Friends. But don't ever think your feelings aren't important."

Gary shared her smile. And nodded obediently.

"So do have a plan with all that luggage?"

Gary bore a coyish grin. "I was thinking we'd just wing it."

Misty laughed. Then she pat the tall boy on his shoulder, "It's okay, Gary."

"What?"

She motioned to the nearby chair and smiled knowingly. "Take a seat."

"You have a plan?" asked Gary incredulously.

"I have a plan."

* * *

**T**he hospital was very clean and not very busy. Gary had little to no trouble upon entry. It was a small town hospital. For such a complicated title it was remarkably simple. Perhaps only a three story building with offices and lobby on the first floor- and patients on the upper. 

Gary walked across the small lobby of vacant plastic chairs and fake greenery, to the receptionist's desk.

"Hello. May I help you?" asked a pretty brunette sitting behind the counter. Gary was half surprised that it wasn't Nurse Joy sitting all pretty and pink there. But then he reminded himself that he _was_ in a human hospital this time.

"Um yes. I'm here to see Gary Oak."

"Oh you must be Mister Ketchum. Yes. Of course. He does have a guest at the moment, but I'm sure it would be alright for you to see him. Room Two Twenty Eight."

"Thank you very much."

Gary quickly made his way to the staircase. As he climbed the steps, his nerves began to rattle. What if it weren't Ash, at all? What if it were just some huge misunderstanding and that this was a different Gary Oak? It could be possible. Unlikely but possible.

Yet he wanted it so desperately to be Ash. Their first lead on his whereabouts in years.

Gary stopped in front of the door. He could see shadows beyond the fogged glass. Voices carried on quiet conversations away from his ears. And he wasn't sure if he recognized any of the voices. Screwing up his courage, Gary drew in a breath and opened the door.

There was a girl beside the bed. At least Gary didn't know it was a girl until she turned around. Her hair was cut rashly short. But even so, she was quite pretty for her age, which Gary guessed to be around nine or ten. Her eyes were red rimmed- obviously from crying. And she looked more startled than angry at his interruption.

The boy on the bed, on the other hand, took the interruption far less kindly. He went pale and then slowly a stormy expression began to form. Helpless and pinned by broken bones and a neck cast, Ash couldn't run away this time and he knew it.

Gary decided to break the silence first. "Hello Gary."

"Ash," retorted the bedridden boy.

"I'm- I'm sorry?" The girl looked between the two boys in confusion. "Who are you?"

"Julie, it's okay. He's a friend of mine… from Pallet. Ash-" Ash sent Gary a look. "This is my flying instructor, Julie. She saved my life."

Gary nodded to Julie. "Looks like everyone gets that wonderful opportunity, huh?"

Julie only smiled weakly back. "Uh yes. Gary… I'll come see you later okay? I have to get back to my students."

"Thanks for coming to see me, Julie."

"Of course." She quietly closed the door behind her. She left uncomfortable silence in her wake.

"So... Gary, huh?"

"Don't patronize me."

"Jump off a building, didja?"

"Pokemon actually."

"Hm." Gary surveyed Ash's casts and then turned his attention to the cart hanging from the bed. He held up the clipboard for Ash to see, "Says here you almost died… From a six story drop."

"Nine actually. Julie caught me at six and couldn't keep a hold on me."

"Did it hurt?"

Ash looked at him crossly. "If you know anything about skydiving, you'd know that there's a black out before impact."

"Ah. Too bad."

"Look, Gary. I'm sorry I ran out without telling you all. But I'm not going to apologize for leaving."

"I don't care."

"Even when you take me back, I'm just going to leave again. You can't-"

"I said I don't care, Ash."

Ash was in mid sentence but decidedly closed his mouth. Instead of watching Gary scorn over his medical charts, Ash turned his gaze out the window.

"How'd you find me?"

"Believe it or not, the hospital called my grandfather."

"Ah."

"So what, you forged my grandfather's signature and hid under my name. It was very clever. I'll give you that."

"If I could have thought any other alias, I would have."

"What happened to Tom Ado?"

Ash smiled genuinely for the first time since Gary entered. "You have to be a registered trainer to get into the academy. Thankfully their database didn't have photo IDs to go with the names."

His expression clouded again. Carefully avoiding Gary's searching eyes, Ash stared down at the hospital blanket wrapped around him.

"So how many people know?"

"Only Tracey and me."

Ash shot Gary a bewildered look. Gary only gave him a reassuring smile.

"Tracey is under a oath of secrecy. And I came up here of my own accord. No one else knows. Not even Misty."

"Why?"

"Because I don't know why you left. But I figured you had a pretty good reason," Gary plopped down in the chair Julie had vacated.

"I'm not going to-"

"It's okay. I suspected you wouldn't."

Ash relaxed a little. At least as much as he could for one as suspended as he was. "So… Will they learn soon?"

"Maybe. Maybe not." Gary then leaned forward, a sudden stern look etched into his face. "Cell phone number. And when I call, you answer. No matter what."

"But I don't have…"

"I'll buy you one."

"But-"

"Those are my conditions. Take them or leave them."

Ash sighed and stared absentmindedly up to the ceiling. "I suppose I don't have a choice."

"That's right. You don't," said Gary getting up and pulling his chair closer to Ash's bed. "Now tell me. What have you been up to… besides getting yourself in this mess."

Ash's face broke into a uncontrollable grin. "Well… geez. Where do I start?"

* * *

To Be Continued…  
Please Read and Review.

Thanks for suffering through the long wait. It's tough being an English Major sometimes. And computers are evil.

A little dash of Gary x Misty this time around. Of course there's more to that then you all yet know. Don't worry. Flashbacks tell all. You'll learn eventually.

Thanks again to all those who have reviewed and bore with me as I struggled with getting this chapter and written. Yuki Tsukihana, Katie, Pikajenn, Tatsu-no-Houou, Airess Byrd, crazyNproud, citrus luver, F0013A12, Arrow, Sonic12, kettish, Rastanton94, Seiryuu Ryuujin, and last but not least Yami-chan and Unrealistic.

I apologize for the prediction of last chapter's "next chapter" not coming into play yet. That was a bit of miscalculation on my part.

Next chapter, Misty's plan comes into play. And both Gary and Misty find out dark secrets hidden within the Ketchum family tree.

Please stay tuned for the next chapter. And review. Your patronage is much appreciated.


	8. Incentive

The Blind Alley

**Disclaimers**: If I owned Pokemon, you would know it.

**AN://**Very little to no flashbacks in this one. That would be because we are getting into action sequences- there's little time to reminisce or compare at this time. Just keep in mind- this chapter will be in real time.

Many thanks to a Yoshi-kun who named dropped me on a pokeshippy forum, "This is a classic fic, it just has the feel of one of those Team Rocket fics from way back when, so I was surprised when I saw the date was so new. Ash and Misty get drawn into a really bad mess."

I really appreciate the publicity! Thanks for recommending my story!

Cue Ash's reappearance!

**Last Time on TBA:**

A routine plummet, packing, feelings rekindled, and a confrontation.

Quote: "So do you have a plan with all that luggage?"

* * *

**Chapter Eight**: Incentive 

Guess who just got back today?  
Them wild-eyed boys that had been away  
Haven't changed, haven't much to say  
But man, I still think them cats are crazy.  
-Thin Lizzy

**S**he'd be lying if she said she wasn't nervous. The plan wasn't exactly fool-proof. It relied a lot on luck, on Giovanni's guard being low, and on Gary's "criminal" capabilities. Because what they were doing certainly wasn't legal.

But, Misty figured while putting on the final touches to her own role, what goes around comes around. A little bit of criminal activity would be needed to outwit a criminal. And this was just the edge of the precipice. If they really had to rescue Ash from the WI organization, this wouldn't be the first plans of questionable legality.

Misty was surprisingly pleased with herself though. The plan was really quite ingenious. Even Gary had been struck by how remarkable bold the undertaking was. It had Ash's touch to it. Impulsive, reckless, throwing the entire pot into one roll- it was a risk Misty wasn't accustomed to making on her own. But if she didn't, then who would?

Despite the availability of Brock in Pewter or Tracey in Pallet… the two agreed that the less people knew of their plans the better. There was no need to bring more witnesses to their moment of indiscretion. They would have to be alone in this undertaking.

And time was of the essence. Not only was Ash's wellbeing hanging in the balance, but Giovanni's own guard would be down. He certainly wouldn't expect an attack so soon after just being attacked.

Misty gave herself one last look over in the mirror. She didn't even recognize herself. With a smile and a blown kiss to her reflection, Misty knew she was ready.

* * *

**H**e didn't remember being unconscious. But suddenly he found himself aware, floating in a sort of semi consciousness. Ash opened his eyes to darkness. The only visible figure was his own body, glowing faintly in the deep black rabbit hole he was falling down; slow, agonizingly slow. He felt his hair slowly swaying as the only physical sense of his decent. 

Ash opened his mouth and in surprise found bubbles erupting from his lips, racing each other to the surface. He covered his lips, and looked around himself blearily for a break in the endless black water. There was none.

A burning began to build up in his chest. Fearfully, Ash began scrambling upward. He pushed against the current with strong deliberate arm and leg strokes. Finally, after what felt like several life threatening minutes, Ash felt one of his hands break the surface.

Between his fingers, Ash grasped what felt like gritty sand. He thrust his other hand up as well, pulling himself up through a dune. Gasping and sputtering, Ash heaved the rest his wet body through. He coughed up a mixture of sand and water.

For a long moment, he just laid on the beach with his eyes closed taking in deep meaningful breaths of air. He could smell the salt in the air and hear the waves pulsing against the beach; like a heart beat. It was calming after having woken up in such an unfamiliar and frightening setting.

Reluctantly Ash pried open his eyes. It was incredibly bright wherever he was now. But try as he might, Ash could see no sign of sun or the waters he was sure he had heard when his eyes were shut. He lay, drying in what appeared to be an endless yellow desert.

Ash pulled himself up to his knees, dusting off what sand clung stubbornly to his wet body. And he paused in the midst of doing so, startled by the clothes he wore. Brilliant white garments hung loosely to his body- a cotton white tank top and slacks. His feet were starkly naked, as were his hands that he usually adorned with biker gloves or other some sort of wrist band. Who had dressed him? And how did they have clothes so impossibly white?

Then a thought raced through his mind that chilled him inside and out. _Am I dead?_

He felt as though someone had set fire to his veins. His mind spun around the idea. And yet, all he could do was stare pointlessly at his sand caked hands.

Everyone was probably missing him. Pikachu. Ash couldn't bare to think how his Pokemon was dealing. Misty. Would she cry? Would she be angry for leaving her again? And then his mother…

Ash swallowed hard and shook away his paralysis. He couldn't be dead. This had to be some sort of bizarre dream. Or perhaps he had been struck by a nightmare attack, strange effects those.

Ash had the unfortunate privilege of finding out first hand what such an attack had on humans. Painful, terrifying and horribly realistic dreams. Not fatal, thankfully. But Ash was in a hospital for at least a week after the fact, just recovering from the emotional turmoil it had put him through.

But if this were a nightmare induced dream, it was too calm. When he had been struck by the nightmare attack before, Ash suffered from disjointed and confusing but no less torturous dreams. This dream seemed rather straight forward. And rather uneventful.

Ash thrust his hands down into the warm sand. It felt real enough. And there was no sign of the black water he had just recently escaped from. It was as if the sand sealed up behind him. He sighed miserably, lifting his hands back out again. No sooner had he shook the sand off his hands, had there come a strong "tanging" sound in the air.

Ears ringing with the sound, Ash glanced around himself. A ball landed right in front of him, nearly knocking Ash backwards in fright. It bounced up again landed a few feet away before tumbling down the far side of the dune.

Ash stood up with intent to follow the strange object when a soft sound tickled his ears. It was like Christmas bells. Turning warily, Ash found himself face to face with a Pokemon the likes he had never seen before.

It was a pale pink, no bigger than Pikachu in size with brilliant teal colored eyes. It reminded Ash of a Persian, except with larger eyes and a more innocent expression on its face. It floated several feet of the ground, its face level with Ash's own.

"Mew," it said.

Ash stumbled back, falling smartly on his bottom. The pinkish Pokemon just giggled at him, covering its mouth and then twirling in circles. Ash stared at it unblinkingly.

"What are you?"

"Mew?"

"Mew? Is that your name?"

The Pokemon shrugged as if to say "more or less".

Although he knew it was completely ludicrous, Ash swore he thought he might actually have heard what the Pokemon was saying to him. Past the words- like a little subconscious voice in the back of his head was translating for him.

He didn't even understand what Pikachu was saying to him. How could he, with a Pokemon he had never seen before- never even interacted with before, understand its language?

Mew looked him in the face, uncomfortably close. And Ash distinctly heard what sounded like a female voice whisper in the back of his head, "chosen one."

Ash inhaled sharply and tried to lean back, away from the pokemon's intruding glare. But there was no avoiding it. Mew was waiting for an answer.

"I'm… I'm not that. I- I only pretended… that time, it was a coincidence! An accident!"

Mew shook its head, "no accident, child. there are never any accidents. we chose you… when we killed you."

Ash felt his heart skip. The familiar numbing pain swept up his legs. He fought it back. There had to be some sort of mistake.

"I never died."

"that you remember."

"I never died!" protested Ash.

Mew stared long and hard into Ash's face. Ash wondered if it could read his mind. He tried to think aloud what he felt- that Mew was wrong. That he was still alive. That he was telling the truth.

"i understand your… hesitation," said Mew at last. "but i don't have time to explain. you will not be staying here long."

Ash wanted to ask what she meant and opened his mouth to do so. But Mew interrupted him. Her thoughts overpowered his own so that he had no choice but to listen. The words were no longer whispered- they were sung intoxicatingly in his mind. Ash felt himself almost falling into a sort of trance. No matter how hard he fought, the words won over. Not that he wanted to fight. Why fight? The words, they were sung so beautifully…

"in the shelter of your mind, we can talk as equals. but in our world, the one we have briefly vacated, our communication will be limited. you will not remember these words until you need them. i will be unable to explain why… but you must do as i indicate. the lives of thousands hang in the balance."

Mew flew around Ash so that her long soft tail fell loosely like a scarf around his neck. The boy had no reaction, still entranced by Mew's instructions. Then Mew came up close beside Ash's ear and said, "i'm hiding. i need you to find me."

Ash blinked. A fog lifted from his eyes, and he was suddenly aware of his surroundings. Mew flew away from Ash, twirling back and forth in the air ahead of him.

"What did you do?" demanded Ash, suddenly feeling somewhat violated. He was compelled to check his face for marker stains.

Mew didn't answer. Instead she made a happy sort of giggle and took off across the dunes. Ash scrambled to his feet after her. She paused only to make sure he was following. Ash stumbled awkwardly, his bare feet burning as he raced across the sands.

Ash climbed a particularly mountainous dune to find that Mew was waiting for him on the other side. She had stopped again hovering what appeared to be a dock. But there was no indications of the sand around it having ever contained water. It seemed out of place. As if Mew had only just spirited it there for kicks.

Mew went to the end of the strange structure, swaying back and forth in the air. She giggled at him as if amused by his struggle to remain upright in the dunes.

He took a single step out onto the wood. As soon as the flesh of his foot made contact with its surface, something surged up Ash's leg. It felt like a jolt of electricity. Ash took another step but the jolt was not in that one. The change had already occurred.

He was standing, dumbstruck, looking out at what had been a desert only seconds before and what was now a enormous ocean. The waves churned with the passing of a storm. The dark clouds parted and slipping in between the patches of sky was a pink skinned Pokemon.

Ash blinked and the scene shifted back to the bleak sandy wasteland it was before. Mew hovered at the end of the dock just watching him.

"I saw you before," whispered Ash, scarcely believing it himself. "It was after that freak storm. That one that was supposed to keep us boxed into that pokemon center for weeks… when it passed us by. Did you… did you have something to do with that?"

Again Mew said nothing. Not even giving Ash an earful of her own name. She just stared, blinking her large eyes nonchalantly. Ash was starting to wonder if he had just imaged the voice he had heard through her only minutes before.

Then, quite suddenly, Mew let go of a smile, sending just ever so gently to him. It was an apology tied up in a sort of sad regret. At the sight, Ash felt his chest constrict. Was that a look of pity?

As soon as it was sent, Mew was gone again- dashing across the dunes with new ferocity. This time, Mew showed no signs of waiting for him. Ash was certain that now, Mew was trying to get rid of him.

Ash took off down the edge of the dock, leaping off spectacularly into what he thought would remain sand. But instead, Ash found himself stumbling clumsily through thick mud. They sucked at his feet, pulling him down to nearly his ankles. It was as if the black water were trying to grab at him again.

Panicking, Ash quickly pulled his feet free and ran across lake bed. He had lost track of Mew. All that concerned him now was staying above the mud. And really that took precedence above everything else.

Ash stumbled. He fell- his fingertips just grazing an object a few feet in front of him. He hadn't noticed it before- the rubber ball that had alerted him to Mew's presence earlier. Ash pulled himself to his knees, reluctantly grasping at the sinking ball. It took him only a minute or two to dislodge it from its nest in the mud.

His legs came up easier. Ash stood, from the knees down looking as if he had been dipped in fudge. The ball dribbled as Ash gave it a quick once-over. For some reason the object seemed oddly familiar to him. But Ash just couldn't, for the life of him, place it.

A sudden screeching sound turned Ash's attention away from the ball. He looked up, horror-stricken to see the Pokemon from his nightmares floating there. Purple and poised in all its majesty, with eyes that seemed to Ash those of all consuming madness.

It arched back, supporting in its hand a terrifying orb of dark material energy. Psychic energy manifested from its own malicious intentions. Ash took two steps backwards. The monster swung the orb- and Ash screamed. He covered his face with his arms. And dropped the ball.

It rolled across the dried lakebed quietly in Ash's wake.

* * *

**A**sh jolted from unconsciousness- as if he had been struck. It took several painful panic-stricken moments for his heart and breath to even out. Pressed against the wall, Ash quickly surveyed the small room he was in. It was plainly furnished, with a cot bolted to the wall- a bedside table similarly bolted to the floor. Nothing adorned the table space and the bed wasn't even properly sheeted. 

If he were a guest here, Ash wasn't sure he was expected. Slowly, Ash pushed his way up to his feet. Through the wall, Ash could feel a very slight vibration- like that of a motor. So either he was on an airplane, a large automobile, boat or a train. Without a window in the small room, Ash was only able to speculate.

With the slight bobbing of his stomach as the room dipped and rose, Ash guessed it was either a boat or airplane. But since he wasn't comatose with seasickness, Ash guessed he wasn't on a boat. And to that, Ash was grateful. Sure, he had handled the sail boats and the long hours on Lapras' back on his orange island escapades back when he was eleven. But times had changed. Ever since his _eighth_ near death experience on the high seas, Ash couldn't quite look at the ocean without losing his lunch. Or perhaps it was just an unfortunate effect of puberty.

Fighting back lightheadedness, Ash made his way to the door. He was shocked to find himself stopped short, his wrist had been bound by handcuffs to the metal bedpost. He pulled against it somewhat absentmindedly, as if unsure of its actuality.

And then it all came rushing back. Ash staggered backwards into the wall and slid down to his knees again. He had been kidnapped. Why? That question had never been answered. And somehow, Ash doubted it would be. Whatever these people intended for him, he wouldn't find out until after they had their way.

He remembered Misty's face. The look, her expression when he had been grabbed. Twisted up in fear. The scream of her voice, cut short when she had been clubbed from behind. Ash pressed his shackled hand against his heart and closed his eyes.

"Please be alright," he whispered.

His head leaned against the wall, Ash suddenly became aware of voices. He turned his head back to the door that was open just a crack. Crawling quietly across the floor and against the wall, Ash managed to stretch himself out just next to the door frame. With caution, Ash carefully pried the door open just a inch or two wider so he could see without giving away himself away.

From his position, Ash could only make out the backs of a few people. One of the persons, Ash recognized as being Clark- or was it the other one? The twins were remarkably identical even when facing forward.

They were talking to a blacked out screen. The voice emanating from it was eerily robotic. Even so, Ash felt a slight chill run down his spine at their intonation. This must be their boss, Ash thought. And he didn't sound like someone Ash wanted to tango with anytime soon.

Unfortunately, Ash's attention had come a little late into the conversation. He only just assumed that they were updating their leader on the obvious success of their mission.

"We delivered the letter," said the twin in Ash's view.

"And his expression?" responded the mechanical voice.

"Delicious."

Ash repressed the urge to grind his teeth. That definitely had to be Clark, that cocky bastard. He wished he had given Pikachu the chance to shock him a few good times.

_Pikachu,_Ash remembered suddenly, his fingers going between his gloves. The pokeball was still there, snug against the recess of his palm. Its presence there gave Ash comfort. So he did have some sort of defense against these people.

"And the boy…"

"He's asleep. And should remain so for a few more hours. We had to chloroform him."

"Hm. We did not discuss the use of drugs on our hostage, Clark."

Then a voice out of Ash's view spoke rashly, "I'll take full responsibility-"

"Do not dare to interrupt me, Agent Lewis. I was not addressing you."

"Of course, ma'am."

Ash inhaled sharply. The White Ice's boss was a woman? While Ash thought he should have been relieved, for some reason he felt all the more in danger. Giovanni he could deal with. But someone like Misty with control of most powerful force of the known world at her disposal, would make anyone shudder with fear.

"Giovanni went to great lengths to protect him," went on Clark, undaunted by the scolding he had received.

"Of course he would. The boy is _his prize_. And currently his only means of pride. We just snatched away his resolve… He is unscathed, is he not?"

"The boy or Giovanni?"

"Don't be impertinent."

"The boy is fine. Not a hair touched on his head."

"Good. Keep it that way. We don't want to appear inhospitable to our little guest."

Clark shuffled somewhat uncomfortably. "Would he accept our hospitality?"

"Oh no. Of course he won't. I count on him not."

"What then? When he refuses."

Ash never heard the answer. For Clark's twin had appeared at the door. And the last thing Ash saw was the downside of a shoe, just before it made acquaintance with his face.

* * *

"**S**ir, you have a gym challenger." 

Giovanni glanced up from the security monitors to the broad shouldered rocket member standing in the door frame. Stephan, if Giovanni remembered correctly. He had his arm in a sling and his eye was still puffy from when the WI members have given in trouble the previous day.

Giovanni was glad the man decided to still stay in service. Thankful more than the man would ever know. His members were dwindling more and more every day. He still had a handful of scatterings across Kanto, but all his members in the other boundaries had either been press ganged into WI or eradicated. He had Andromeda to thank for that.

She hadn't been discriminatory at least. Her first victims had been the Neo Rocket band that had rebelled from Giovanni's own group. Then she slowly took over the lesser criminal organizations of Aqua and Magma. Not to mention the brief tussle with Galaxy that gave White Ice the positive media attention they needed.

And how brilliant that strategy had been. Take out all the other organizations and look like some sort of Batman, or modern Robin Hood. Build up your reputation and then none will oppose you. If they think you are the best thing that has happened to them- why would they?

Team Rocket had been the last. And now, with all the other criminal groups dispersed or destroyed, Giovanni had little choice but to follow them.

Become the Pokemon gym leader everyone had assumed he was.

"A challenger, hm?" Giovanni's eyes glazed over for just a moment as he thought back to the battle of the previous day.

How exciting that had been… battling against his son. His son? No, Delia's son. It was like the old days. He was so much like her. The fire in his eyes mirrored her own, once upon a time. The eyes he had fallen in love with.

He moved his attention back to the monitors he had previously been surveying. There was a camera facing the sculpture garden that he swiveled over to face the front entrance. And there the boy was. Giovanni could only see the top of his red and white baseball cap. The brim hid the boy's face. But his garb seemed to suggest a young boy- perhaps only just turned ten. He had to have been only a yearling, foolishly taking on this gym.

"Who is he?"

"A Mister Gary Oak, sir."

Giovanni blinked and shot a stunned look to Stephan.

"Gary Oak, you say?"

"Yes, sir."

"Samuel Oak's grandson? Why is he back in Kanto? Last I heard he was traveling the Johto Regions. Getting badges for that league."

"Should I turn him away sir?"

"No no. It's rare we get a celebrity as our gym," He chuckled, turning his attention back to the screen again. "The last time he was here… how strange. I would have thought he'd be too afraid to come back."

The man in the door frame made no means to respond. Giovanni waved him away, "You may show him in."

* * *

**S**tephan was only continuing to work for Giovanni simply because he hated change. Having worked for Giovanni for the past eight years, to leave suddenly would put Stephan in a depression he wasn't sure he'd be able to recover form. Change was unthinkable. 

It was never a matter of loyalty. And what use was loyalty in a band full of cutthroats and thieves?

Stephan didn't think much of the declining existence of the rocket organization. He didn't think about the break in yesterday. He didn't think. He was trained to take things with stride and let them go just as quickly. It was dangerous to be too interested in things.

Much easier just to follow orders.

Stephan went to fetch the trainer. He took the side door as instructed. Giovanni always liked to have the doors opening only to him. It left an impression on the trainers. Instilled fear, which was always useful to have if you wanted to be in control of a organization of criminals.

The child was standing in front of the massive doors, looking up and down them expectantly. His green eyes shot directly to Stephan as he approached- as if expecting him.

Stephan silently noted that the trainer was acting strange. Nervous perhaps. He rung his hands, opening and closing them into fists, and tethered back and forth from foot to foot. Stephan had dealt with nervous trainers before. Giovanni had that effect on people. But this trainer didn't seem nervous- no, he acted anxious.

And he was used to sneaking up on the trainer. Not being expected.

But Stephan wrote it off just as quickly. If what Giovanni said was true, than this Gary Oak had been at the gym before. He was sure to know the man's tricks.

"Mister Gary Oak?"

"Yes," answered the trainer in a small voice.

"Follow me, sir. The gym leader is expecting you."

Stephan could have sworn he saw the smallest bit of a smirk on the trainer's face. But at a second glance it was gone. Surely, he was just imagining things again.

* * *

**G**iovanni sank into his armchair just as the large oak doors drew back. His Persian, fully recovered from yesterday's excitement, took a quiet place at Giovanni's feet. Definitely not in the mood for anymore battles. 

The gym leader found that he was grinning quietly to himself. Although he no longer had his secret weapon, he was sure he could win. Gary Oak was a name of legends. Famous grandfather equaled famous grandson. If he could defeat this boy here, he'd gain a name for the gym once more.

The boy walked smartly in. He didn't seem intimidated by the grandeur of the hall at all- perhaps because he had been here before. There was no cheerleading squad, nor any mocking remarks of victory. The boy appeared to have matured.

But yet something was wrong. He seemed smaller… younger than before.

"Challenger Gary Oak," announced the guide.

Giovanni leaned forward in his chair. Brilliant green eyes looked back. His face was quite pretty, with a smug grin stretching his thin lips. From under the Pokemon league cap, which Giovanni could clearly see it was now, he spotted a few stray red bangs.

Suddenly Giovanni knew. This wasn't Gary Oak. He stood up, but as soon as he did, he felt a dull pressure against his back.

"Please don't move, Mister Giovanni."

Giovanni glanced back at the young man behind him. With one glance, he realized he had been utterly fooled. Gary Oak was behind him, a gun pushed neatly against Giovanni's lower back and a smile on his face.

Giovanni looked back down as the poser relinquished _his_ disguise. He threw off the coat, revealing a black tank top underneath- and obvious chest, Giovanni and the guard couldn't see before.

Misty spun her cap around to the back, and held out a pokeball for Giovanni to see.

"Giovanni, leader of the Viridian Pokemon Gym. I challenge you to a Pokemon battle."

Gary applied a little more pressure to the gun against the gym leader's back.

"And you're strongly obliged to accept."

* * *

To Be Continued…  
Please Read and Review!

Came up with the chapter a bit faster this time. Once again, I was able to come through fully with prediction in the last chapter. That's just how it goes sometimes, I suppose. I wasn't expecting Ash's dream sequence to be so long.

I love Misty kickass action. Don't you?

Another **dedication to those at NIU** who recently had a tragedy happen on their campus during Valentine's day. My heart and prayers are with you during this hard time.

Many thanks to Airess Byrd, RikuLuvr, Steve, YumeTakato, and Pikajenn for reviewing. I appreciate the feedback, truly I do. It's helpful to know that people are actually reading my stuff.

Next chapter, Misty challenges the leader of the Pokemon gym in exchange for answers. And both she and Gary get more than they counted on.

**Please review** and stay tuned for the next installment!


	9. Conclusive

The Blind Alley

**Disclaimers**: If I owned Pokemon, you would know it.

**AN/** Thank you all who have stuck with me this long. I really do appreciate reviews more than +favs. Please give me feedback when you have time. It makes me feel like my story is being read by people rather than by names.

And one more thing. The battle in this chapter reaches mature levels the other chapters haven't yet touched. You have been warned.

**Last Time On TBA:**

A plan, a dream, a kick in the face, and disguises.

Quote: "Giovanni, leader of the Viridian Pokemon Gym. I challenge you to a Pokemon battle."

* * *

**Chapter Nine**: Conclusive

You show me how to see  
That nothing is whole and nothing is broken  
-Utada Hikaru

**T**here was a red rubber ball being tossed between two kids across the street. Gary leaned his back against the wall of the gym and watched them for awhile. The sight of the ball bouncing against the pavement brought up bitter memories.

He had a similar toy once when he was younger. It had been years since he last played with it. Too many painful memories soaked into its rubbery skin. And yet Gary forced himself to stare at the ball and think of them.

The screeching of tires and someone's screams filled his younger ears. They weren't Ash's screams. Cause Ash was too busy, standing there, preparing to die. And that awful red ball was still just rolling slowly across the pavement.

Gary gave a start when the hidden door to his left finally opened. Gary slid behind the tall bushes and watched as a man exited, ready to welcome Misty into the gym. The door was exactly where Misty supposed it would be.

_Good girl_, Gary thought with a smile.

Gary didn't give it time to close. He slid in as soon as the other man was clear. The guard didn't even know he was there.

The door snapped shut and locked Gary into a corridor of darkness. Fumbling blindly, Gary made his way down the hall. This is where the plan depended on him. It was one thing for Misty to get into the gym. It was quite another for Gary to navigate behind the scenes so that she would get her deserved audience with Giovanni.

Eventually darkness gave way to a pale yellow light. It flickered down from badly worn down florescent lights in the ceiling.

The hall was surprisingly empty. No wonder Ash had been so easily kidnapped, thought Gary. What happened to those impressionable guards clad in armor at the gates? Or the hoards of grunts that used to traffic these halls? What exactly happened to the criminal empire that Gary knew used to be behind this walls? What had he been so afraid of those years before? His imagination?

He kept expecting Pokemon to be watching him from the shadows. Immoral Pokemon. Ones that just shouldn't exist at all. Mutant Pokemon, parts of other Pokemon sticking out like growths from their backs, different unmatched eyes in their stretched eye sockets, and each mouth filled to its capacity with fangs. Each one with every intent to see intruders (or perhaps just everyone) suffer.

Gary thought of the psychic Pokemon from his nightmares and shuddered. Now there was an evil Pokemon- its face and all its intentions hidden behind a impenetrable metal armor. He kept seeing it in the corner of his mind. Laughing quietly as it lay back into the recesses of his memory- just waiting for the chance to jump out and replay the events of the past so it could finish what it had started.

The hall eventually led Gary to a few rooms of unnecessary worth. A few locked down weapon closets. One or two Pokemon storage facilities, that Gary quickly scanned for any sign of the evil Pokemon. Fortunately nothing unusual met his eye. Each one was fantastically equipped with the latest transporting technology and of course the old design of too small cages and not enough poke feed pellets to go around.

Seeing the poor state of the Pokemon in Giovanni's care made Gary sick. He wanted to break in and pull a vigilante. But he also knew that Misty needed him. Not to mention the waiting security system Giovanni had to have on these storage rooms. He could rail Giovanni later about the treatment of his Pokemon.

Finally, Gary struck gold. There was a ladder just short of one of the storage facilities. It hung a bit above his head though Gary could just touch the first bar when standing on his tiptoes. It looked like it led up to the upper levels- its stiles disappearing into the shadows above. Gary took a daring jump and managed to wrench himself up onto the first rung. With the swing of his lower body, he pulled himself up so that his feet rested on the bottom bar.

This was rather easy. Almost too easy, Gary thought as he quickly climbed up to the balcony above. He relinquished the worry when other more pressing thoughts came to his attention. Like how to sneak up on Giovanni without his Persian reacting…

* * *

**M**isty frowned when Gary landed a perfectly aimed kick into the Persian's side. It wasn't illegal to touch another person's Pokemon, but most people considered it a unspoken taboo. Especially in such a violent manner. So, of course, she could not fully condone Gary's actions. But this was neither the time or place.

And Misty knew he wouldn't have hurt the Pokemon at all if it hadn't posed a threat.

"Tell your Pokemon to back down," snapped Gary lifting his leg to kick the snarling cat again should it leap at his ankle again.

"Why?"

Gary pushed the gun harder into Giovanni's lower back. It seemed there was no other reason necessary.

"Persian."

The Pokemon stopped, looking piteously up at its master not unlike a little child caught doing something wrong. And Giovanni gave no further order.

Gary sighed. The gym leader had his Pokemon well disciplined… or rather well scared. He didn't have to look to know that Persian would not be jumping at him anymore. The Pokemon had retreated underneath the armchair and curled up into the smallest ball it could possibly be.

"So what did I do to earn this unexpected pleasure?" said Giovanni without holding back any of his irritation. "I must say I am getting tired of being ambushed in my own gym."

He cast his eyes down at the redhead below and smiled wryly. "Don't tell me this is some sort of half ass rescue attempt? I hate to have to put a damper on the moment, but you've made a mistake. I have nothing to do with your friend's kidnapping."

"We didn't think you did," snapped Misty. "We just know you know more than you've been letting on. And you're as good a place to start as anywhere else. After all- the ransom letter was left to you."

"That means," Gary smiled over Giovanni's shoulder. "… there's something you are not telling us."

Giovanni ground his teeth and then tossed his head arrogantly. "So what do you want? If you think you can bully me into saying anything, you're sadly mistaken."

"I'm challenging you."

Giovanni squinted down at the red head once more. She was clutching onto one of her poke balls very tightly. Her stare was unrelentingly… and for a moment he might have thought she _was_ his son. She had a lot of Ash's fire to her.

"I'm challenging you to a battle. If you win, you can call the police- your guards- have us arrested for assault. Whatever you wish."

Gary hesitated, his eyes wavering uncertainly from Misty and his captive. It was evident he was perhaps not filled in with all the details.

Giovanni grinned with sharp teeth. "I like that idea."

"But if I win," interrupted Misty fiercely. "You will do everything in your power to help us save Ash."

There was a silence that rang with Misty's demand. Giovanni knew he had little choice but to accept the deal. And should he lose, then he'd just have to throw in another lie or two to hide his relation to the boy.

But it would probably come out. Big secrets had a way of doing so. Giovanni looked absentmindedly down at Misty again. His somber expression startled her. But he didn't let his ill thoughts cloud his decision. After all, it was the gym leader's job to accept all challengers.

"It's a terrible bet. To think you could get your friend here to force me into telling you everything right now… or I that could've called the police already."

Giovanni plucked a cell phone out of his jacket pocket. His hand had been on the receiver. Before Gary could make any lunge for it, Giovanni dropped the phone over the balcony. It crashed heavily onto the floor below. Both Gary and Misty sagged with visible relief.

"I accept your challenge."

The gym leader reached for his pokebelt but Gary caught his hand. Giovanni met the boy's glare with one of his own.

"I think I will find it hard to battle without my Pokemon, boy."

"Three on three," said Gary ignoring Giovanni's bitter retort. "No funny business. I'll check them. Just to make sure you don't cheat."

"I think this is hardly fair. This is between me and the young lady."

"You're the leader of criminal organization."

"_Former_ leader of said _recently disbanded_ criminal organization."

"Regardless," snapped Gary motioned with his free hand for the belt. "You can't be trusted."

Seeing that he wasn't going to win, Giovanni unbuckled his pokebelt and handed it over to the boy. Gary inspected each of the red and white balls with careful almost hesitant scrutiny.

"Hm. Expecting the pokeballs to bite, perhaps?"

Gary scowled and thrust the pokebelt back into Giovanni's hands, careful not to take the gun off him.

Calmly, Giovanni picked three pokeballs out of the bunch and let the rest fall into the armchair. He clicked the pokeballs between his fingers as he continued, "I promise not to sick my old favorite on the girl- if that's what you were worried about. I'm afraid I lost track of it soon after our little bout."

"You lost that… that thing?" spat Gary, gripping the pistol tightly in both hands.

"Regrettably," said Giovanni nonchalantly. "Do be sure not to shoot me in the middle of the match. I'd hate another interruption."

And then, sweeping Gary to one side, he addressed his opponent again, "Shall we?"

Misty's only response was the click of her pokeball as it grew to normal size in her waiting palm. Giovanni grinned. He was going to enjoy this.

"I'll warn you now. I went easy on your friend earlier. I will not do the same for you, little girl."

"Wasn't asking for it. Go Vaporeon!" Misty sent the pokeball spinning through the air, tossing out her beautiful mermaid beast. It landed in a low crouch with its back arched and tail erect- waiting.

Gary watched, a smile betraying his thoughts. _So Misty evolved her after all._

Giovanni caught the look and twisted the small pokeballs around in his hands for a moment, contemplating. Then at last he stuffed two of the pokeballs into his jacket pocket and threw the third hard against the gym floor. It cracked open like an egg and spilled out a huge ferocious purple horned monster that towered over the little Vaporeon. Nidoking managed a toothy grin that the littler Pokemon did not return.

'_You're an awful small snack.'_ said the Nidoking. _'I think I'll still be hungry after swallowing you whole.'_

Vaporeon swayed its tail angrily. _'Just try it ugly.' _

The guard stood to one side, casting uncertain glances from his boss and back to the young girl he had brought in. Even seeing Giovanni throwing out his own pokeball in response, Stephan was still somewhat at a loss of how to call it. Was this a real battle?

Figuring that it probably was, Stephan took a few steps back so that he was safely beyond the chalked out boundaries.

Lifting his un-slung arm, Stephan did as he was trained in these rare non-team rocket moments and played referee.

"Trainer… um-" He glanced at Misty earning a swift glare in return, "Girl… versus the reigning Viridian Gym Leader. Three on three battle to the knock out. Battle… start!"

And _the girl _wasted no time. Immediately Misty swung out her arm and shouted her first order, "Quick attack!"

Vaporeon lunged at the giant purple armored Pokemon. Giovanni snapped his fingers. At the same instant the sound reached the Nidoking's ears, the monster slammed its body weight against the floor.

Misty and the referee fell back- rocketed by the explosion beneath their feet. Even Gary stumbled slightly, grabbing hold of the railing to catch himself. Concrete slabs leapt up from where the monster dropped.

Luckily Vaporeon had anticipated such a retaliation. She pressed off the floor the instant before impact. Shrapnel stabbed at her unprotected body as she dove straight back into Nidoking's back. Vaporeon delivered a clean blow to the back of the Pokemon's spine between two armored plates. Nidoking let out a roar of displeasure.

"Vaporeon, aurora beam!"

Vaporeon fell back between the bladed spikes along Nidoking's spinal cord and delivered a charged beam into the spot of her last attack. The colorful blast cracked the armor along sides the Nidoking's shoulder blades. For a second, Misty saw the whites of the Pokemon's eyes, suffering from the blinding pain of the double blow attack.

Typically, Misty wouldn't be this ruthless. To cause so much intentional pain to a Pokemon was cruel. But this was for Ash. And even if her hands were shaking- even if she regretted every move, this was for Ash.

Misty looked up at her opponent. Most trainers would be appalled by her tactics. Or at least upset at the condition of their Pokemon. Giovanni appeared particularly nonchalant.

He played with ring on his finger for a moment before giving a soft uncaring command, "Bite it."

Misty, temporarily distracted (and disgusted) by Giovanni, did not seem to hear what Giovanni had just said. Nor had she any idea that it was some sort of command. She realized too late.

Nidoking twisted its head around and latched its large mouth around Vaporeon's middle. Vaporeon let out a cry of pain pried from Nidoking's back and pulled back to the front. Nidoking bore its large teeth into the Vaporeon body with every intent to bite the Pokemon in two.

"Vaporeon!" Misty screamed.

Vaporeon burst like a bubble being popped. Water poured out of Nidoking's mouth and fell with a sloppy splash against the broken gym floor. Disgruntled, the Nidoking stepped back.

The puddle re-solidified into the bubble-jet Pokemon and Vaporeon stumbled forward onto her front legs, briefly coupled by exhaustion.

"Hm. I forgot it could do that."

"You almost killed my Pokemon!" shrieked Misty at the gym leader. "If that had been- if I had a different one out… your Pokemon would have bitten them in two!"

"That is the idea of the attack, my dear," replied Giovanni earning a jab in the side from Gary.

"Oi. Watch yourself, bastard."

"I told her I wasn't going to play nice."

"Gym leaders aren't supposed to kill their opponent's Pokemon," retorted Gary, flashing the gun as if Giovanni might have forgotten it.

"But it does sometimes happen… accidentally."

Gary made to smack Giovanni broadside with the gun but Misty's shout stopped him.

"It's okay!" She glared back at Giovanni. "I'll just be more careful from now on."

Gary gave the gym leader a glare of his own.

Giovanni merely shrugged away the oppressive atmosphere, "You two challenged me. It's not my fault I don't like losing."

"This is a gym battle. As a fellow gym leader I have to say your method is… unorthodox at best," snapped Misty. "Do you not even care when your Pokemon are injured? Your only defense is to have them hurt a Pokemon in an even more cruel way."

"There's far more at stake here than a simple metallic badge. I hope now you realize that."

Misty smiled. "You _really_ don't want us to know why they came after you."

Giovanni did not smile back. Instead he actually bellowed a command, "Nidoking, megahorn!"

The horn on the monster's head began to turn and screech at a frightening pace. With each increasing twist the horn unscrewed from its head- growing longer and sharper. Vaporeon crouched and backed up with tail raised- waiting for her master's order.

Misty laughed. So Giovanni _did_ have something to hide. His actions proved it. For a former leader of a criminal organization, he really was a terrible liar. He reminded her of Ash.

Misty shook her head. No, nothing like Ash. Giovanni is _so_ not like Ash.

"Vaporeon," called Misty just as the drill charged into the earth near her Pokemon. She thrust her pokeball out in front of her and shouted, "Return."

Vaporeon glowed red, and in the instant which it should have been sucked back into the pokeball- the laser light turned and shot like a dart deep into the thick hide of the Nidoking.

The mighty king toppled over, Vaporeon standing triumphant on its chest.

Stephan called it, "Nidoking is no longer able to battle."

Hand neatly placed on her hip, Misty smiled coy up at her opponent. Vaporeon mimicked the action, tail flashing.

"Very good," said Giovanni returning Nidoking. Vaporeon landed skillfully on her feet as the matter beneath her was sucked back into a container. "You certainly are a gym leader. You handle your type quite well."

"I would've accepted the compliment if I wanted one from you," retorted Misty haughtily.

"I can see what he saw in you," then quickly before Misty could respond, Giovanni threw out another pokeball. It erupted out three tiny brown puppet looking Pokemon. They were a considerable change from the monster that was Nidoking- but not really a bad one.

Vaporeon relaxed as Dugtrio chirped a polite howdy-do.

'_I'm fine, thank you.'_

'_That's good then,'_ replied the Dugtrio in complete unison. _'We would have hated to battle if you weren't feeling well. It just wouldn't be fair.'_

Vaporeon made a face. _'You're pretty friendly aren't you? Are you sure you're a rocket-dan Pokemon?'_

"Toxic," said Giovanni suddenly, interrupting the Pokemon's conversation.

'_Right'o boss,' _responded the little Pokemon. It worked up the bile in its mouths and spat out at the Vaporeon.

"Dodge!" shouted Misty in vain. The toxic caught Vaporeon, who hadn't yet anticipated the fight, directly in the face. The fish finned Pokemon stumbled back, pawing at its injury.

Misty knew that toxic would eventually take its toil on her Pokemon. She also knew had no antidotes, not having the foresight to bring any Pokemon items with her.

She had already glanced through Ash's Pokemon supplies. He too had been running low on everything. Antidote was one of those things you don't normally think of restocking when potions were more important and cheaper.

"Vaporeon fall back! Use aqua ring," Misty ordered.

Vaporeon stumbled back to her master's front. She gently released a bubble of water around herself. The white magic rinsed off as much of the toxicants as it could and healed her wounds from the previous fight.

It would only buy them time but Misty had two others that could finish the job Vaporeon started.

Misty pulled Magicarp's pokeball from her bell and gently slid it into her back pocket. She really did not need another Psyduck incident in such an important battle.

"Earthquake."

Misty nearly fell to her knees. She caught herself with her hand, and pushed herself back to her shaking legs. Vaporeon stumbled but the magnitude was minor. It did little to unsettle her.

"Vaporeon, hydro pump!"

Vaporeon complied. A volley of water parted the protective orb around Vaporeon and slammed hard into the threesome. The force ripped the Pokemon back through the concrete and into the balcony. Giovanni and Gary lurched with the impact, catching the railing to steady themselves.

Reluctantly, Stephan raised his arm, "Dugtrio is out of bounds. Round goes to Vaporeon."

With a snap of his wrist, Dugtrio was returned. Although he was left to his last Pokemon, Giovanni didn't seem overly concerned. The last pokeball was between his index and middle fingers waiting to be released.

"I'll have to apologize for not being frank with you, miss."

Misty blinked.

Vaporeon too, looked up at the gym leader. She was on the brink of exhaustion. The toxins had worked into Vaporeon's system making her bleed water from her pores.

Vaporeons only expelled water in attacks. They did not sweat unless there was something wrong.

Giovanni didn't know what else Misty had in her arsenal. But he was sure he could take out all the Pokemon with this powerhouse. It couldn't replace Mewtwo but it wasn't his favorite new Pokemon for nothing.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I have not been taking you seriously. So consider yourself now- taken seriously."

He tossed the pokeball high. In its arched decent it spat out a large winged Pokemon. Misty felt herself shudder at the sight of it. Its screech pierced deeper into her than any projectile. A dinosaur, a fossilized Pokemon. She hated these things worse than ghosts. They were like zombies- creatures that should have long since been dead.

The Aerodactyl bared its gleaming sharp teeth down at Vaporeon as if already anticipating ripping into the Pokemon's flesh. Vaporeon, still slightly delirious by the poison, flinched.

Giovanni snapped and the Aerodactyl went into a nose dive. It slammed into Vaporeon, sending it through a tumble across the gym floor. Misty called over and over again for attacks or dodging but Vaporeon was just too exhausted.

After being flung around, Vaporeon finally collapsed at her master's feet. Misty rushed to her Pokemon's aid. Her skin was moist and clammy, her breathing labored- but she'd be fine once Misty was able to get her to a Pokemon center. Her only chance of overcoming the poison would be in the pokeball- where the poisons advancement slowed considerably more so than in battle.

"Aerodactyl advances!" shouted the referee as Misty recalled her Pokemon. It seemed he was relieved to be finally calling one in his boss's favor.

Misty thumbed through her remaining Pokemon. Torchic was a bit unreliable when it came to frightening opponents, still being very much a child in mentality. Seadra was pretty useless in fights without a water field. Magicarp was useless in general. That only left Starmie and Golduck.

Golduck, once evolved, became very similar to that of Ash's Charizard with its new personality. Although Misty had been ecstatic about its evolution she quickly _and painfully_ realized that she had not been ready to handle the psychic Pokemon. It was unrelenting, stubborn and disobedient.

She spent a lot of her time recently trying to find experts that might help her explain the violent change that had overtaken her Pokemon. In Ash's case it was simply a lack of understanding. But for Misty, a skilled gym leader, it was rather unlikely that she wasn't skilled enough to handle a Golduck.

Finally after a reluctant but overall desperate meeting with Saffron City's gym leader, Misty discovered exactly why the Pokemon refused to listen.

Sabrina was an imposing figure. After all, the last time Misty had been there the gym leader had turned her and Brock into dolls with her psychic powers. This time though, Sabrina had been cheerful and almost unnervingly pleasant. Seemed that Haunters _could_ work miracles.

"It's because you're female," explained Sabrina looking up after thoroughly examining the bill and eyes of Misty's Pokemon.

"Excuse me?"

"I mean that in the best possible way. Women make stronger psychics trainers but the also have the hardest time starting out."

"I- I don't understand."

Sabrina smiled, cocking her head slightly as if she found it hard to believe someone didn't understand something she found so simple. Her expression irritated Misty.

"It's your thoughts, really. Women are skilled multi-taskers. Our thoughts are complex, processing many things at once. In battle, that gives us an edge. How to think about dodging while attacking at the same time. We think ahead of our actions. We anticipate consequences. But with psychic Pokemon this could cause confusion. Imagine hearing thousands of contradicting voices at once. This is what a psychic Pokemon hears in a human girl's mind."

"But- but I have a psychic Pokemon already. My Starmie."

"How long have you owned this Starmie?"

"Oh. I don't know. Since before I can remember. It was a present… from my mother…"

"And how did your psyduck behave before he evolved?"

"He was pretty useless unless you bonked him on the head a few times," confessed Misty.

"Your Starmie has learned to understand you. It probably took you awhile as a child to even start battling, yes?" Sabrina didn't wait for a response. Misty's meek expression told all, "You've lost the patience- and it will quite a deal more before a Pokemon like Golduck can hear and obey you. Especially if it was hopeless in its pre-evolution state."

When Misty looked dejected, Sabrina continued, "Don't feel discouraged. Your Pokemon will be dependable in time. But as with any powerful Pokemon, those trainers who are not ready to handle the power- suffer. Remember that."

Practice, Sabrina had said. Practice in clearing her mind and directing her thoughts. Practice safely. Well, she hadn't the time. She went to the Viridian Gym only day or two later. And now look at the mess she was in.

With Ash's life hanging in the balance, there was no way she could start now.

Misty grabbed Starmie's pokeball and put all her hopes into it. _Please please! Don't let me have to rely on Golduck. _

"Go Starmie!"

The jeweled Pokemon spun outwards like a shuriken, body slamming into the flying Aerodactyl. Both Pokemon plummeted hard into the gym floor. Aerodactyl recovered first. It lashed out- biting ferociously into the tough hide of the Starmie and tossing it across the field.

It caught itself in midair, gonged and spun its second star angrily.

"Starmie, use thunder!"

Aerodactyl had little time to recover before being struck by tens of thousands or so volts of electricity. Aerodactyl shook off the attack like water and took the skies again with a shriek.

"That's impossible. Flying types are weak against electricity."

"But Aerodactyl is also a rock type, my dear." Misty cringed. Giovanni always used my dear when he was trying to piss her off. And it was starting to annoy. "And rock type a pretty impervious to electric moves."

"Aerodactyl," continued Giovanni cockily. "Whirlwind."

"Starmie hydro pump!"

The Aerodactyl flapped its huge wings that shot air down like a tornado. It sliced through the water attack and picked up the Pokemon and flung it against the opposite gym wall.

The tornado over took Misty- trapping her in a wall of slicing wind. Bits of concrete from the broken gym floor sliced at her exposed skin. Ash's hat escaped and flew away from her reaching fingertips.

Misty covered herself, peering between her arms and through the heavy winds at the field. She couldn't hear the call but she knew it mattered little. That attack had not only sent Starmie out of bounds- it also knocked it out. She only had one Pokemon left.

Panic began its race against her heart. The walls of the slicing winds were pressing in on her.

Normally it was against the rules for an opponent to attack a trainer. But Giovanni had already proven that he cared little for rules.

He wouldn't kill her. But that didn't mean he wasn't planning on making her sweat a little.

She could just see Gary threatening Giovanni with the gun. But she knew it would be useless. He wasn't scared of them. He never had been. Those other people were who Giovanni was scared of.

Misty sucked in a few more mouthfuls of air. She was losing oxygen and fading fast. He just wants to make me pass out, Misty thought against her panicking heart. He won't really kill me.

What now. What now, Misty thought desperately. Gary's depending on me. Ash is depending on me… I can't lose. I can't. I won't.

Her hand trembled over Golduck's pokeball. Did it matter? She would lose if she didn't pick a Pokemon. But… But this was Golduck. The last time she tried to use it…

It turned against her.

She still remembered the pain- as the Pokemon used its psychic attack on her. Like her brain was suffocating- exploding… breaking apart slowly in her hands. It would have killed her if her sisters hadn't come to her aid. The trainer she was battling against quit Pokemon training then and there. Even when her sisters tried to give him the cerulean badge.

"What that Pokemon did to you…" said the young boy in tears at her bedside. "I have an Abra. I'm going to release it now… I can't possibly- not if it could do that to me."

I should release mine too, Misty had thought. This Pokemon is dangerous.

Misty bit hard into her lip. A piece of stone cut into her arm. The pain was sharp. Her hand closed into a tight fist that she brought back up to her lips. Tears stung at her eyes. All she had to do was reach and she couldn't bear to.

"Forgive me. I'm afraid… Ash."

_"No no. You're doing it all wrong," he had once said, five years earlier._

_They were training. Water against Electric. Psyduck versus Pikachu. His backyard was their field with boundaries marked by the white picket fence he had recently painted._

_Ash stood in front of her with fingers, hands and arms still covered in white paint. His precious black shirt had paint flecks. He even had a few white streaks on his face and in his hair. He resembled a poorly striped zebra._

_"I'm holding a pokeball, Ash. There's no right or wrong way to hold a pokeball," snapped Misty back rather crossly, still a bit bitter about being tricked into an unfair fight. _

_"Yes there is," responded Ash. "Look."_

_He abandoned his place at Pikachu's side and came up behind Misty. She made a move to face him, but he caught her arm and forced her to face front, "No- look ahead Misty."_

_She could still smell the paint on him. Her heart beat wildly as he held her, tenderly positioning her in what he considered the right way to release a pokeball. _

_"Pokemon read body language. You need to show resolve. If you are uncertain- your Pokemon will be uncertain too," Ash spoke softly into her ear. _

_Her hand in his own, she could feel his soft skin and rough patches of paint underneath her fingertips. Her face went hot. Misty had a hard time resisting him. How could she show resolve when she bothered by his touch?_

_He lifted her arm with his and twisted her hand up with the release button facing Pikachu. "Let your Pokemon know," He said. "Exactly what you want." _

To save you.

"_Exactly what… do I want?" _

_Ash grinned broadly from over her shoulder, "To win, of course."_

Misty thought of him now. Imagining that hot summer day and how it felt with his body pressed against her back. How she lifted her arm with him as her guide. And he was her guide now.

The wind whistling in her ears and tossing her red hair across her face, Misty ripped Golduck's pokeball from her belt.

Even if it kills me, thought Misty. I will not let you slip through my fingers again, Ash Ketchum.

With the last of her air supply, Misty bellowed out her Pokemon's name. She pressed the button hard against her palm releasing the Pokemon directly into her arms.

She didn't have to say anything. Golduck had heard her. The winds instantly broke apart at Golduck's presence. Its eyes glowed a second time and in response Aerodactyl fell hard against the stadium floor- disable crushing its wings.

It let out a pathetic cry as an oppressive aura lifted it and slammed it hard against the floor again and again and again.

Misty watched with certain satisfaction, her eyes following its body as it was crushed repetitively against the floor. There were cracks that were gritty like the earth. Each time the Pokemon was lifted it hung limp, dripping of fluids as if it had been duck into a red lake. And she dropped it again.

Until Gary's voice cut through her thoughts.

"Stop Misty!"

_Not stop Golduck. Stop Misty. _

Misty let go of Golduck. A sickening dizzyingly sensation overcame her and she fell heavily to her knees. The instant she did so- Golduck's attack ceased. But it was too late. The Aerodactyl lay awkwardly on broken slabs of jagged concrete, bloody and beaten.

Reluctantly, Stephan approached the Pokemon. But he needn't touch it to know. Its jaw was broken and its legs and wings were crushed- the bones in its legs had poked through its leathery flesh. The Pokemon was very much dead.

"I don't know how to call this, sir," Stephan called nervously, after a moment, up at his gym leader.

"Misty is the winner," said Giovanni cautiously. He looked over at his opponent. She appeared vacant, her eyes not yet seeing the damage she had caused. Then her shoulders were starting to shake. And tears fell without her notice.

"You might wanna go help your friend," said Giovanni to the young man at his side. "She's going into shock."

Gary hesitated. Torn between keeping his gun trained on Giovanni and helping his friend.

As if reading his thoughts, Giovanni said, "I'm not going anywhere."

Gary decided to take his word for it. But before he could move, someone beat him to Misty.

Giovanni and Gary looked on in bewilderment as someone gently pulled Golduck's pokeball from Misty's hands. The dangerous Pokemon retreated obediently in a flash of red. It retracted into its smaller size in her hands. She slipped the pokeball tightly into the folds of Ash's retrieved hat.

Then tenderly, Delia took Misty up in her arms. Misty buried herself into the woman's embrace and wept bitterly.

"Shh. It's alright now," said Delia running her hands soothingly through the girl's red hair. "The battle's over."

Delia looked up at them. Gary recoiled at the fierce glare. It took him a moment to realize that it wasn't meant for him at all. Her eyes had met with Giovanni's.

"John," she said. "Where's Ash?"

* * *

To Be Continued…  
Please Read and Review!

I told you she'd enter eventually. Go angry mothers!

Yeah… me and violent scenes go hand and hand. I'm not sure if it really is what you would call a mature rating yet. If you think the rating should be raised say so- _please don't report me_. I'll change it if it is requested.

I promise thought that the next chapter will be more light hearted. Even if major secrets fly.

I hope the length of this chapter made up for the length of the last chapter.

Thanks to those who actually reviewed last chapter: The Other Side, BlacKTea, icyblueicy, Milotic, Airess Byrd, mgunh1, Yami-chan and Unrealistic, and YumeTakato.

Oh and note to Milotic what I pmed you about will still happen but not until the next chapter. I didn't forget. I just couldn't figure out how to bring it up until Delia arrived.

Next chapter, the secrets comes out in a secret free-for-all!

Please review. Your patronage is much appreciated.


	10. Behave

**The Blind Alley**

**Disclaimers**: If I owned Pokemon, you would know it.

**AN/ **I hope you all have faired well since last chapter. I promise this one is less on the oppressive dark side.

**Last Time On TBA:**

Infiltration, a deal, a gym battle, and a murder.

Quote: "John. Where's Ash?"

* * *

**Chapter Ten**: Behave

And you could have it all  
My empire of dirt  
-Johnny Cash

**A**sh opened his eyes. He stared for awhile, up at a popcorn freckled ceiling before he realized that he wasn't in a pokemon center. Centers had metal vaulted ceilings domed with the curve of the roof. He should know, he had spent many times in several different kinds of them.

This ceiling was flat and square. A hospital then?

He sat up from the bed too quickly. His head spun and his body ached as if it hadn't been used in years. Ash's eyes burned painfully too. No amount of watery tears cleared them of sensation. When he tried to wipe the tears from his eyes, the left side of his face flared up in pain.

He groaned, bent over his knees and bit into his tongue. Even his teeth hurt. What happened?

Ash rose more slowly this time. There was a sink across the room from where he had been laying. Carefully he got up from the bed. He hadn't seemed to have even bothered slipping under the neatly drawn covers.

Ash gripped the porcelain bowl and glared through his one good eye at his reflection. He was sporting a fantastic purple bruise on the left side of his forehead. It was bandaged neatly. Ash could tell when he touched it that the bruise was still fresh. He hissed through his teeth at the pain and withdrew his hand.

Was he hit by a bus again or something?

"Oh, you awake now?"

Ash turned, startled by the voice. By the door, or rather by the bars since the door appeared only to exist as a locked gate, stood a very familiar looking blonde.

"Clark-"

"No. Lewis actually," replied the boy nonchalantly. "We're identical. Save I got a mole on my neck that he don't…"

Ash blinked and unconsciously reached up to touch his bandage again; as if by doing so he could remember what was going on. Lewis noticed the action, guiltily.

"I'm uh- sorry 'bout that, by the way. I didn't mean to kick you so hard. I just kinda panicked when I saw you by the door. Reflex, really. I got reprimanded pretty bad for that one."

"You do things like that a lot?" muttered Ash starting to remember now. Were they on some sort of aircraft? He remembered peeking through a door…

"Ah yeah. I'm a rather jittery guy. Unlike my brother. We're really sorta like night and day."

Ash peered at Lewis through the bars. But wait? Wasn't this the guy the held Misty hostage with a knife?

"Are you sure you're the same guy that helped kidnap me?"

Lewis laughed, "Yup. That's the way my brother prefers me. I act that way to please him. Was I convincing?"

"Very."

"Ah yeah well," smiled Lewis sheepishly. "Sometimes I wonder if I should have been an actor."

"Probably would have been a more credible line of work." Ash glanced around him.

They didn't appear to be on the air craft anymore. And even though the door was barred, the room seemed pretty comfortable.

It wasn't lush but the floor was carpeted. He had his own sink and mirror. A small toilet area was connected with its own small private room away from prying eyes. He had a sheeted bed and what looked like his own control of a radio and icebox. Not to mention a nicely supplied bookshelf. Ash even recognized a few of his favorite titles hidden there with some old comic books.

"Where am I? Where's Misty?"

"Your girlfriend's fine. We left her back at gym. Might have a bit of a bonk to her head but nothing serious. As to where you are, that don't matter much. You'll be free to go soon."

Ash looked back at Lewis disbelievingly. "You kidnap me and then let me go?"

Lewis just shrugged. "Your friends'll pay the ransom. Our boss is sure of it. Once they do, you'll be free to go. So long as you stay here and wait- no harm shall come of you. You're our guest after all."

Ash blinked. It sounded like there should be catch. He looked around him once more and then asked, "Will you… feed me?"

Lewis made a face, "Of course we'll feed you. What kind of stupid question is that?"

"Well iunno. I've just never been- I mean. I never expected my kidnappers to be _this_ hospitable."

Lewis smiled and tapped his own forehead knowingly, "Just remember. Don't try to leave this room."

He turned and made his way back down the hall. Ash watched until Lewis had left his line of sight.

Ash strangely felt guilty. Unlike his brother, Lewis seemed nice enough That is, if you looked passed all the kidnapping and kicking in the face things. But Lewis' warning had come too late. Ash had already started coming up with a plan on how to get out of the room.

He thumbed the pokeball hidden beneath the folds of his glove.

* * *

**G**ary looked over the railing as Delia laid Misty down, gently bracing her head and neck. It seemed she had practice dealing with such things. Misty didn't stir.

"Will she be alright?" asked Gary in certain concern.

"She'll be fine, the poor thing. The shock to her system just passed her right out…" Delia glanced briefly over to the pokeball wrapped up in the innards of Ash's hat. "Dangerous things, those psychic pokemon."

"How long have you been here?"

This time it was Giovanni who spoke. Delia took quite a deal more time in answering him. She tenderly pushed back Misty's bangs from her face and said, "Long enough."

Giovanni sent a swift nod to Stephan, who had been still cautiously examining the Aerodactyl's carcass.

"I don't think we can do anything to save it," said Stephan.

"Yes, yes. Please. Take the rest of the day off, Agent. Don't worry about the… mess. I'll get it cleaned up myself."

Stephan looked a little doubtful but said nothing. Instead he gave his left handed salute and took his leave.

Gary knew Giovanni and Delia would wait for the extra pair of eyes and ears to leave before speaking. And sure enough, as soon as Stephan was gone, Delia rose back to her feet.

"How dare you do this to this poor girl."

"_Poor girl?_ Didn't you see what this _poor girl_ did to my pokemon?"

"I can only imagine what you did to push her into such a state. She's terrified of that Golduck. Didn't you hear how Cerulean gym had to close down temporarily because a pokemon attacked one of the sisters? It was all over the news for heaven's sake."

Gary was given a start. No, he hadn't heard that. Had Misty been hurt by this pokemon before?

"I did not _force_ her to use that pokemon against me. I simply did not want to lose the battle."

"So you bullied her."

"I was bullied into battling in first place!" snapped Giovanni jutting his thumb in Gary's direction.

Gary blinked, taking a moment to realize that Giovanni was motioning to not only him but to the gun still in his grip.

"Gary, dear. Why on earth do you have that thing?" said Delia, in a noticeably softer tone than used on the gym leader. Gary wasn't sure if that was because of who he was or if because of what she suspected he was holding.

"T-this? This old thing?" Gary laughed lifting the gun up.

Before Giovanni could react, Gary pulled the trigger and sprayed a jet full of water into the gym leader's face. The man sputtered and coughed, running a hand down his face as if it would help any.

"You mean to tell me you held me up with a water gun!" spat the dripping Giovanni.

"Pretty funny, huh?"

"Honestly John. I can see the plastic tab on the back where you fill it with water from here," said Delia, hands on hips.

"I wasn't freakin' looking for authenticity!"

"Maybe you should have," Gary shrugged half heartedly when Giovanni sent the boy another vicious glare. "I'm just saying."

"Where is Ash?" Delia interrupted again.

Both Gary and Giovanni's eyes went back to the woman below. Her gaze was unrelenting.

"He was kidnapped," Gary said, faltering slightly when Delia looked to him. "At least… That's what Misty told me."

"By who?" Delia glared at Giovanni. Again, he looked away.

"Some White Ice members," continued Gary. "I don't quite understand it myself."

"Was it _that_ woman?" Delia spat. Her livid gaze holding onto Giovanni. The man still refused to look at her. But he did incline his head in a small meek affirmation.

"Oh god," Delia shaded her eyes.

"What woman?"

"What else did Misty say, Gary?" said Delia completely ignoring his question.

Gary felt a bit ousted but chose wisely not to point it out, "Misty said they left some sort of ransom note with two demands. Location and-or blueprints. We were trying to muscle information out of Giovanni here because for some reason- the ransom note was left for him."

"Of course it was left to him," Delia answered with a huff. She crossed the gym floor in quick strides before coming just beneath the balcony.

"Why? Why was it-" Gary hesitated, tongue pressed against his upper teeth. Delia kept addressing Giovanni by his first name. Suddenly it made sense but Gary still couldn't believe it.

"Either come down or let me up," Delia snapped impatiently rapping on the side of the metal elevator. Neither made any move towards lever.

Gary gripped hard to the railing and stared at Ash's mother down below. He couldn't voice the question itched at the tip of his tongue because he was afraid of the answer. Gary couldn't even find the courage to speak until Delia's eyes met with his own.

"How do you know Giovanni?"

Delia sighed and pushed some of her auburn hair behind her ear.

"Delia, I refuse-"

"It is not only your secret to tell," retorted Delia.

Giovanni guiltily adverted his gaze when Gary sought his eye.

There was a moment of long hard silence. Giovanni sat down and dug his nails into the arms of his armchair, as if to restrain himself. Persian didn't dare duck out of its hiding place.

"Giovanni is Ash's father," said Delia at last.

There was another silence, this time heavy with the information given. Gary felt like he had just taken a blow to the chest.

"Are you sure?" said Gary breathless, not realizing that the shock was restricting his airflow.

"Pretty darn," replied Mrs. Ketchum, Gary noticed, rather sarcastically- rather nonchalantly.

Gary tightened his grip on the railing. "Does Ash know?"

"I don't believe so," said Delia casting a spiteful look Giovanni's way.

Giovanni looked straight ahead, unblinking. "He doesn't. At least not to my knowledge."

"Gary…"

As if reading his thoughts, Delia moved closer to the wall. She reached out almost as if to touch him. As if he needed calming. Even though she was several feet below, Gary still recoiled.

Was he in shock? Yes, probably. And yet, Gary felt guilty for his emotions. This wasn't his mother. This wasn't his father. He was an Oak. But yet he felt as if the foundation of his life, his childhood, had collapsed from underneath him.

"No way," he muttered. "No way. You said he was dead."

"Gary, dear-"

"You said he was dead!" Gary shouted. "You lied! You lied to me! You lied to… to Gramps! You- You made me lie to Ash!"

Gary didn't care that Giovanni was right behind him. The man shifted uneasily in his chair.

"I knew. I saw _him_…" He jutted an thumb in Giovanni's direction. "…that day of the accident. I knew who he was-"

"Gary!" Delia was in tears. But Gary pressed on.

"When that car came…! He almost died and you still lied-?" Gary stopped when a hand gripped his shoulder. He was startled to see Giovanni standing there.

Giovanni gave Gary's shoulder a gentle squeeze and said, "That's enough."

Gary sniffed in surprise. He was even more startled to find tears running down his face. That was funny. He was angry, not sad. Why in the world was he crying?

Gary rubbed his face roughly on the back of his sleeve. "Why didn't you tell him?"

"I tried," Giovanni walked over to the lever and finally pulled it. There was a clank and then slowly the elevator lowered for Delia. She hesitated, and finally met Giovanni's eye. "He was never old enough to understand."

"He's old enough now."

"Yes. But what good would it do him? Learning that his father is his potential worst enemy, trying to steal his pokemon. I am ashamed of myself and inherited career," He straightened and looked back to the younger pokemon trainer. "Ash didn't need to bear my shame."

"But that's not what you said before," Gary snapped. The elevator had begun to rise. Now Delia was the one to avoid the men's eyes.

"I'm wiser now."

"You're lying. That's not the reason!" Gary sent a glare Delia's way when the elevator came to a stop. "At least that's not the only reason."

Giovanni smiled wryly. "Perhaps not."

Gary looked furiously from one parent to the other before angrily pushing past them both into the elevator. Delia turned about and opened her mouth to protest- but Gary interrupted her, "I'm going to see to Misty."

Delia's eyes met with Giovanni's. The two said nothing as the elevator crept down to the ground floor again. It wasn't until Gary's quick footsteps echoed across the gym's floor, that Delia spoke.

"Will she kill him?"

Giovanni scraped some of the peeling flecks paint off the railing bar with his fingernails. He rubbed the pieces between thumb and forefinger before answering, "No."

"But she will hurt him, won't she?"

Giovanni again didn't meet Delia's eye, "Yes."

"What are the items on the ransom note, John?"

Giovanni watched as Gary lifted the limp redhead halfway into his arms. He was waving, what Giovanni supposed were some sort of smelling salts under her nose. The boy probably had a whole unusual kit of emergency aids from and for his travels. Just as Ash had. From this distance, Giovanni couldn't tell if it was retrieving the girl from unconsciousness or not.

"John. What does Andromeda want?"

Giovanni fixed his dark eyes on that of his biggest weakness- the cause of his biggest mistake, creating even more weakness. It was because of her that he spent money protecting what they had created. And now, her son would ruin him even further. All because he loved her.

"The blueprints for a machine that can siphon the abilities from a pokemon and transfer it into a manageable energy," At Delia's blank stare, Giovanni added. "With it, Andromeda could use a thunderbolt. Cause earthquakes. Control minds. Anything within a pokemon's power would be within hers- so long as she has a host to steal the abilities from."

"Then what was the second option?"

"The location of the ultimate host," said Giovanni darkly. "Mewtwo."

* * *

To Be Continued…  
Please Read and Review!

Thanks to everyone who were being so patient with me. I know I don't come out with these chapters fast enough to redeem the damage caused by the cliff hangers.

See, I told you I hadn't forgotten. Mew and Mewtwo _will_ be appearing in this story. I promise.

Thanks to those who have reviews so far. Each chapter is thanks to your patronage. Thanks very much to Twilight in Rain, Vilya0, apprentie Zorba, Feloss, P.R. Dragonite, Pink Chibi Mermaid, Airess Byrd, Eska, Yami-chan and Unrealistic, Milotic, Steve, Dreamlight, Axletia Rosonetis, Pikajenn, and YumeTakato.

I suppose the Misty chapter was a hit. 15 reviews this time. Hurrah!

Next chapter, Ash and Pikachu do some snooping around WI headquarters. And Misty, Gary, Delia, and Giovanni try to figure out how to ensure Ash's safety _without_ fulfilling the ransom.

Please review. Your patronage is very much and always appreciated.


	11. Disobedience

**The Blind Alley**

**Disclaimers**: If I owned Pokemon, you would know it.

**AN/ **I am inspired, of all places, by _Kung Fu Panda_ to continue writing. Let us begin.

**Last Time On TBA**:

Awakening, arguments, discovery and confession.

Quote: "Giovanni is Ash's father."

* * *

**Chapter Eleven**: Disobedience

Maybe life's not perfect  
Maybe it's not worth what he gives away.  
-3 Doors Down

**G**ary didn't know Ash very well. But that didn't matter much when you had hardly a handful of experienced years in your pocket.

At five years old, you played with anyone on the block. And you didn't become friends, no. You shaped and molded each other to fit into future friendships you'd form for later life. There was no such thing as friendship yet.

Gary had a shiny red ball and Ash had hands to catch. That was all that ever need knowing.

So they passed it back and forth over Gary's lawn. Ash was a terrible catch- either that or Gary was a terrible thrower. Gary tossed the ball at Ash's face and again it went over his head. As he stumbled across the lawn after the ball, Gary caught sight of two grownups outside Ash's house.

One he recognized as Ash's mother. The young brunette that enjoyed wearing pink blouses and frilly aprons- a sharp contrast to the hourglass suits Gary's own mother wore. Delia often invited Gary over to have lunch with her and Ash. But the man was a stranger. He was tall with dark slicked back hair and a young handsome face. Gary made note of the slim tux wondering just why such an expensive looking person would end up here in Pallet.

Ash threw the ball and Gary wasn't paying attention. He only just managed to stretch out and have it graze pass his fingertips.

Grumbling to himself, Gary stomped after the ball. He lifted it out of the muddy puddle it had rolled into. The grownups had risen their voices. Their words echoed across the small yard.

"You have no right keeping him from me!"

"He's not yours! Now leave!" Delia screamed throwing out her hand as if she need to point the way out.

"He's not yours either, Delia! And one day, he'll let you know it."

Delia made a move back towards the house, but the man wasn't finished.

"That's your problem, isn't it? You think everyone's just an object to be had, don't you? Don't you? What about me? Am I just a tool you got tired of using?"

She slapped him so hard that the air rang with the sound. Gary watched dumbfounded as the man stumbled back.

"Over here, Gary! Here here!" called Ash.

Through all his incessant shouting, Gary couldn't make out what they were saying anymore. Frustrated, Gary turned back to the smaller ebony haired boy. He bounced up and down- waving his arms excitedly. Tired of putting up with Ash's inability to catch, Gary purposely swung the ball as hard as he could- hard right.

Mud trailed from his fingertips like blood.

And the ball rolled out into the middle of the street.

* * *

**P**ikachu came out of its pokeball angry. But he had half the sense to know that now was not the time to take it out on his master.

Ash knelt beside the newly released pokemon with a smile on his face. And although Pikachu was relieved his master had not been seriously injured, he couldn't abate his fury at being cast into his pokeball.

"We're in trouble, buddy," said Ash with a small smile.

'_When aren't we?'_

Ash smiled again but even the smallest twitch of his lips sent a shockwave pain via his fashionable facial bruise.

Pikachu gave his surroundings a once over, able to recognize immediately that they were prisoners. Chances were that whoever had captured Ash was not aware that he had kept a pokeball in his possession. So obviously, his master had something planned if he were bringing Pikachu back out.

"Misty is fine. Or so I hope. She'll take care of the others," said Ash, as if continuing a conversation they had already been having. "I'm not sure what White Ice wants with us… wants with me. As much as I can gather is that they want to ransom me off."

Pikachu listened, remotely, as he climbed up onto Ash's cot. He scanned the room for various exit points. His eyes momentarily fell on some electronic boxes hanging in the corner.

_'Pikapi…'_

"For imitation purposes only," said Ash acknowledging the security cameras Pikachu had pointed out. "I checked them out. Fakes. It's almost as if they think we can't get out of here."

_'Or they expect us to.'_

Although Pikachu wasn't sure Ash really could understand what he was saying, the boy was given pause. He stood at the edge of the bed peering at the security cameras- no, his eyes were focused a bit left of the cameras. To the only door in the room- a small bathroom courteously provided by their hosts.

Pikachu inclined his head, _'Problem?'_

"I… I think I might have found," Ash walked towards the bathroom and pushed the door open wider, staring up at the bathroom ceiling. A smile stole across his face, "…a way out."

Pikachu leapt down from the cot and climbed up Ash's leg to his shoulder. From this position he could see exactly what his master had been smiling about. There was a ventilation shaft directly above the toilet.

'_More conveniences,' _frowned the pokemon.

* * *

**G**iovanni really wished that girl had not woken up. From the very instant that she came back into consciousness in her friend Gary's arms, she had sent nothing but dirty looks his way.

It was hard enough having to face his wife and his son's childhood friend. But facing this red head without a pokemon in the waiting sidelines felt like walking in a sniper's sights.

They decided to debrief in one of the back rooms away from any unwanted eyes. Just because there was a decline in the pokemon trainers didn't mean that there wouldn't be any challengers this afternoon. And knowing his luck lately, Giovanni didn't want to take the chance of being walked in on when talking about such delicate information.

Giovanni waited until all three of the other occupants had taken a seat around the table before choosing a seat himself. Of course, he chose one the farthest from Misty as possible, seating himself at the end of the table with Gary and Delia on his either side. The red envelope and printed ransom note lay exposed on the table before them, as if they were about to perform an autopsy.

"Tell us what's on the ransom note, Giovanni," said Misty almost immediately. She certainly cut to the chase.

Gary had scooted closer to her and rested his hand on her arm. As if she needed some sort of comfort in harassing the gym leader. Giovanni found Gary's condolences rather ill placed but said nothing.

Giovanni had just opened his mouth to speak when Delia suddenly spoke for him.

"The items on the ransom note are non-negotiable, of course," said Delia. "But I am also afraid that handing either said items to these people would be disastrous in the long run."

Gary and Misty cast their questioning stares from Delia and then back to Giovanni- suddenly realizing that they themselves were now more in the dark about the situation than previously.

"So you tell her and not us?" Misty snapped.

"It's fine Misty I'll-"

"No. No, it's not fine. What is your connection to the Ketchum family, Giovanni?" interrupted the indignant redhead. "Why was the ransom addressed to you?"

The room went still. Luckily Misty didn't notice that even Gary had gone slightly pale. Only Giovanni seemed to regain composure.

He cleared his throat loudly, "I'm afraid I'm disinclined to answer your question at this time," Misty harrumphed but Giovanni continued undaunted. "However- I will tell you that the items on the ransom note are dangerous battering chips. Even in exchange for your friend Ash, I'm afraid Ash is not worth the items they ask for."

He waited for someone to disagree but his captured audience said nothing in defense. Giovanni continued, "The blueprints are for a machine that can harness pokemon energies to use them for human practices. And the location…"

He paused, looking to Delia. She nodded encouragingly.

"Is of a pokemon known as Mew… Two."

"Mewtwo?" repeated Gary taking the words right out of Misty's mouth.

"Yes. He was… an experiment of mine. A genetically enhanced improvement upon the original."

"A clone."

Giovanni scowled disapprovingly at the brunette. "Yes, in crude terms. But he was far more than just a clone. Mewtwo was… the perfect pokemon. In physique, mind and prowess. He was my most prized possession."

Gary suddenly stood up from the table in a noisy clatter. Giovanni exhaled a irritable sigh, "Yes. Yes, that one."

Misty pulled down on Gary's arm so that he sat back down. She whispered a few words that seemed to console him. But not enough to truly make him okay with the pokemon's mention.

"Are they going to kill it?" asked Gary with certain venom. His arms were shaking.

"Fortunately no," said Giovanni, his eyebrows raised at the boy's loss of equanimity. "They'll most likely siphon its superior abilities so that they can… well. I'm not quite sure what they'd do with that sort of power. But I'm sure it wouldn't be a good thing."

"Well… I'd say the bitch's first course of action would be to kill me and Ash," said Delia with a coyish smile. Giovanni sent her look that merely made Delia hide her smile behind her hand.

"Why? What bitch?"

Misty glowered when Giovanni once again looked to Delia for permission.

"Her name is Andromeda," said Delia without meeting Giovanni's eye. "She was an… old friend of John and I… Before the psycho-bitch tried to kill me."

"What she means is," interceded Giovanni. "That we had an unfortunate falling out."

Delia offered a strained smile, "Yes, real unfortunate."

"Will they even keep Ash alive then?"

Giovanni met Misty's eye. Perhaps on some level he could respect her concern. She cared. So was Ash like his father or his mother when returning those affections?

"They will."

"How do you know that?"

"I know these people. This woman," He sent Delia a swift stare that said his opinion wasn't meant to be commented on. "They'll keep him alive even if he pisses them off."

Gary chuckled. "Should probably say _when_ not if."

* * *

**"D**o you see anything?"

Pikachu poked its small head back out of the opened grate in the ceiling. The small smirk on its face interpreted his preceding pikas, _'It's a go.' _

Ash stepped up onto the toilet seat. He thanked puberty for the gracious gain in height. His arms easily reached inside the air duct. Hoping that the shaft would hold his weight, Ash pulled himself up by his elbows. He was pleasantly surprised by the size of the shaft.

"We hit the jackpot, pikachu."

_'It's awfully convenient isn't it?'_

Ash climbed the rest of the way up, having just enough room to crawl his away along the vent. Unfortunately the movement was fairly obvious. Unlike pikachu who soundlessly traveled the metallic tunnel, Ash's crawl sounded like an incoming elephant stampede.

Deciding to sacrifice speed for silence, Ash let pikachu wander ahead of him. He instead focused on sliding his legs and arms across the vent- moving at an agonizingly slow pace but a quiet one.

For a long while, Ash didn't even dare speak to his exploring partner. The air ducts would probably echo with any sound he made. And without knowing if the rooms below were occupied or not, it was dangerous to even sneeze. At last he heard his pokemon whisper back to him,

_'Pikapi.'_

He saw his yellow partner ahead peering over a closed grate. Light filtering from it lit up its face in an eerie way. Whatever was down below seemed to be causing him some sort of concern.

"What is it, Pikachu?"

Pikachu fixed his master with a meaningful stare. _'Someone below is… calling for you.'_

* * *

**G**ary drummed his fingers against the table impatiently. So far the conversation had come to nothing substantial. Although they knew what the items on the ransom note were now, it only seemed to prove Giovanni's claim that they could not possibly fill it. At least not without severe repercussions.

"The longer we waste here, the longer Ash is imprisoned," snapped Misty suddenly interrupting a debate between Ash's parents. "And who knows what they could be doing to him! We need a plan now!"

Delia frowned and then returned her gaze to Giovanni, "Which will it be, John?"

"The location would be the logical choice," piped Gary glad that the argument had turned in his favor. "The machine is far more harmful than that beast they want. Let _them_ deal with it. Who's to say they'll even be able to catch it if they find it."

"No. The location is not negotiable. I cannot surrender Mewtwo to those… I just can't. If any human will ever see that creature again, it will be me."

The other three stared at Giovanni. Only Misty was able to put her opinion to words, "How incredibly selfish."

"You don't understand-"

"No. No, I understand completely. And that's what _disgusts_ me. You'd rather a human life be lost than someone getting a head up on you- is that what I am to understand- is that what I'm hearing, Giovanni?"

"Certainly sounds that way," said Delia with equal disdain.

Gary cleared his throat loudly to prevent another exchange from delaying their decision making. Then he offered a bit of a wild card, "Is there any way we could not fill the ransom and still ensure Ash's safety?"

"Nothing without some cinema magic unfortunately," said Delia. "If we don't provide the goods they ask for, they'll hurt Ash. Make no mistake. She _likes_ to hurt people."

The room fell silent once again. Until a smooth voice said, "There is one way."

Giovanni anticipated a response. But the room remained silent, eyes almost hungrily upon him.

"We'd have to provide an exchange. One hostage for another."

"Forget that," said Misty immediately standing up from the table. "I'm not kidnapping anyone. And exchanging them for Ash! That's horrible!"

"I have to agree, John. That's barbaric… to even suggest."

"Who could we even use that they'd trade for?"

"I'd be the hostage," interrupted Giovanni.

Delia gently gripped his arm. He couldn't tell if it were out of sympathy or not. But Misty, oh the how the redhead had begun to smile.

"I'd be okay with that."

"I wouldn't," snapped Gary.

Everyone else around the table appeared shocked by the indignation that had flared his cheeks red. Giovanni most of all.

"First off, they would never accept that trade. If you're willing to sacrifice yourself for him… they'll never let him go. They'll only ask for more. And second, what makes you think Ash would be okay with your decision?"

Gary roughly snatched the ransom note off the table and flung it at the gym leader's face. Giovanni only just caught it, bewildered at Gary's fury.

"Pick one. And stop being an asshole."

* * *

**O**f course, Ash didn't understand a word Pikachu said. But he did understand that something about the room was bothering his friend.

Ash crawled up next to the grate Pikachu was peering through. The room below didn't appear to be anything out of the ordinary. He could see what appeared to be a couple of shelves, and a research table cluttered with various flasks and books. From this bird's eye view, he couldn't see what could possibly be causing Pikachu's vexation.

"I don't see anything, buddy."

Pikachu only continued to paw at the vent. Giving in to his pokemon's insistence, Ash pried off the grate and set it aside. Pikachu wasted no time, immediately leaping down into the opening the instant he got it free.

Pikachu landed expertly on the table below. He sent only one look back up at his master that clearly said 'come on' before scampering out of sight.

"Pikachu! Pikachu!" Ash hissed after his pokemon. But clearly getting no response, Ash gave up. He carefully lowered his legs over the side of the opening. Once his legs were dangling, he held himself up by his arms before skillfully swinging himself down just south of the table Pikachu came in on. There was no need for his adolescent weight to break the table and give off their position.

Once on the floor, Ash began to see why Pikachu had been so troubled by the room. At first, it appeared pretty harmless. There were research tables lining the room like stripes on a prison jumpsuit; bookshelves, computers and science equipment that looked too expensive to even risk touching. It wasn't until his eyes fell upon where pikachu had scampered off to that he was given pause.

Ash inhaled sharply.

Before him stood a massive tank with equipment and wires connected to countless wall computers and monitors. The readings blipped up and down and numbered things Ash couldn't even begin to comprehend. And in the tank hung one small sleeping pokemon no bigger than pikachu.

It had a pale pink skin and a cat like appearance.

Ash suddenly felt ill.

"Mew," He whispered.

* * *

**A**sh remembered that he squeezed his eyes shut before impact. He always did it. Before falling, before taking a punch, before hitting the ground. As if by doing so, he could wish it all away. Most people called it flinching. An instinct. A second where he regretted getting himself in the situation he was in. Even at five years old, Ash had always flinched.

He never felt the car hit him. But he was tossed. He clutched the ball tight to his stomach, feeling it crush into him as he rolled. The skin on his elbows and knees caught on the pavement. His mind shut down.

When the world stopped turning, Ash dared to peek. There was a person holding him tightly. He was bleeding very badly, but his eyes were soft, warm and unafraid.

"Are you alright?" The stranger said.

"Yes," answered Ash before fainting. "Thank you."

* * *

To Be Continued…  
Please Read and Review!

Love me! Or hate me. I know, I'm mean.

But hey, you must like it. Cause here you are, back for another chapter!

Anyways, thanks very much to the reviewers of last time. Thanks goes to SSJmusicfighter282, crazyNproud, Steve, Crysania Fay, Airess Byrd, apprentie Zorba, Cataclyptic, Vilya0, P.R. Dragonite, Twilight in Rain, Pikajenn, Axletia Rosonetis, YumeTakato and last but certainly not least the lovely Miltoic.

14 reviews this time! Huzzah. Hopefully it wasn't because I kept you all hanging too long.

Next chapter, Ash is reunited with the legendary pokemon, Mew.

Please review. Your patronage is appreciated.


	12. Encouragement

**The Blind Alley**

**Disclaimers**: If I owned Pokemon, you would know it. Pokedex entry taken from Bulbapedia.

**AN/** Hurray! I've reached 100 reviews. That calls for another update and I've been waiting for this chapter for a long time…

**Last Time On TBA:**

A game of catch, escapes, debate and Mew.

Quote: _"Someone below is… calling for you."_

* * *

**Chapter Twelve**: Encouragement

And you  
Can bring me to my knees  
-Staind

**A**sh pulled out his poke'dexter. It was considerably smaller than the dexterial stander he started out with seven years ago. The new product was a small silver rectangle no bigger than an ID card, with a circular lens at the upper center. It had the basic components of a regular home computer- except as a handheld. Hard to believe how much data the smaller version could contain!

Not only did it store up to 500 different types of pokemon, it also held information on every gym leader from here to Sinnoh, data on most pokemon trainers running the circuit, and also kept track of every pokemon ever encountered- when, where, and even under what circumstances.

Secretly, Ash missed the droning robotic voice of his first dexter. But unfortunately, the upgrades were necessary if Ash were ever to hope to stay alive in this increasingly dangerous trade.

Ash pointed the lens at the comatose pokemon. There was a beam of light that ran up and down the pokemon's body before transforming itself into a transparent screen and holographic wire frame in front of the young trainer

Mew.  
Type: Psychic  
Height: 1'04" (0.4m)  
Weight: 8.8 lbs (4.0kg)  
Genderless.  
Useful Information: Mew is a legendary pokemon normally described as a pink cat-like creature. Mew is said to have the DNA of every single Pokémon with abilities to transform endlessly into the various Pokémon at will. It also vaguely resembles a fetus, as it's often depicted in a pink orb similar to an amniotic sac and its tail as an umbilical cord.  
Considering that no terrestrial animal resembles it, there is not a known diet for Mew. Legend has it that Mew is an intelligent sentinel being that will only appear to someone with a pure heart. It is also known to be quite childish and will play playful pranks when it can.  
Last Sighting: Cameran's Tree of the World's Beginning in Hoenn Region

Ash took a sharp intake of air. Cameran. Hoenn. Oh mew, if he could just forget that place.

"I knew it was familiar," said Ash as Pikachu climbed up onto his shoulder. "Remember, Pikachu? The pokemon that Lucario… helped."

Ash blinked back stinging tears as he looked at the suspended creature, "But this isn't… this isn't the same pokemon."

Pikachu cocked his head, _"What do you mean?"_

"That Mew," said Ash lightly touching the glass where the pokemon's foot would be, "had a cross shaped scar from here… to here." His finger mapped the span of the pokemon's foot.

Ash stepped back and frowned. "This one… doesn't have one. It's got to be a completely different pokemon."

Pikachu lowered its ears in disbelief, _"Just how many legendary mews do you think there are?" _

A slow and deliberate _clop clop clop _tickled at Ash's ears, interrupting pikachu's not yet translated question. Ash turned, startled to see that he and Pikachu were not as alone in the room as they originally thought.

Both the uniformed White Ice brothers, Lewis and Clark, stood at rigid attention. They were placed at either side of an absolutely stunning blonde, who looked the cross between a biker chick and a nightclub bartender.

She stood in knee high black leather boots with a sharp spiral pointed heels. A zipper cut up the side with buckles latching at the ankles and upper thigh. Trailing up the legs he could see the dark colored tights pressed seamlessly up to a mini skirt that accentuated her luscious curves. Her top was a satiny night black tie back halter, the fabric pulled down tight around the empire waist.

She was clapping lightly- the source of the sound. Her fingers tapped against her palm as she approached. Then she moved them, resting her hands against her hips. Her lips parted into a small careful and calculated smile. As if every facial expression, every gesture, was as precise as a chess move.

"Congratulations Mister Ketchum. I knew I could count on you to find her."

Pikachu leapt down from Ash's shoulder, cheeks sparking and snarling. But the pokemon trainer was too stunned to react like his partner.

Ash merely looked from the twin brothers back to the woman skeptically, "What is this?"

"Just a friendly get together," said the woman flashing her french manicured nails his way. "Lewis and Clark you know. My name is Andromeda."

She moved casually across the room towards the some counters and sinks stretched against the far wall. From the unremarkable plastic green cabinet, Andromeda withdrew a flask of wine and two crystal wine glasses.

Both the twins remained like statues by the door, following with only their eyes.

She set the crystal on one of the research tables and filled it to the brim with blood red wine. Ash watched her prepare the alcohol suspiciously.

"Would you like something to drink, Mr. Ketchum?" said the woman, holding the filled glass to him.

"I don't drink."

"Hm. Pity," She smiled taking a sip of the wine offered. She then set herself down on the table next to the wine bottle, looking coy at the young trainer.

"You know," she said with a smirk as she coquettishly sipped her from her glass, "you do look an awful lot like your father."

"My father?"

Andromeda set the glass down on the table next to her and stood back on her feet, "Before the accident of course."

"Accident? What accident?"

She walked smartly passed the poised pokemon. Even Pikachu seemed puzzled at her disregard, its composure temporarily lost.

And in that moment of confusion, Andromeda had rounded on Ash. She lifted his chin up so that her eyes met his own. Her grip was too hard and too startling for Ash to pull free from. Ash felt terrified and yet curious all at once.

"But you have your mother's eyes," Andromeda's eyebrows raised. "A shame, really. You might have been quite handsome."

This woke Ash up at last. He jerked himself away, only making the woman laugh. It was the kind of shrilly laughter that just made people who heard it angry… and helpless. Because you knew that you'd never give her any reason to stop laughing at you.

"How do you know my parents?" Ash demanded.

"We were old friends," said Andromeda.

Her smile only deepened at Pikachu's rush to protect his master again. She stepped back respectfully this time. But not before casually ticking the necklace around Ash's neck up with her pinky finger.

_She must have freed it when she was 'examining' me_, Ash realized. _Pikachu's pokeball. _

"So that's where you hid it."

Ash quickly tucked the necklace back out of view.

"What do you want from me?"

Andromeda laughed as if he had made the funniest joke she had ever heard.

"My dear boy! We want nothing _from you_. Why essentially you alone are worthless. But together with your parents and a few legendaries, you are something of a key."

She returned to the table to down the rest of her wine. She turned, delicately placed the glass back into place, and flashed Ash a brilliant smile.

"A key to a gate of many wondrous opportunities. Opportunities I intend to have. And a key I intend to use to get what I want."

* * *

"**M**isty. We need to talk."

Misty turned just as Gary shut the door after them. She looked at the young man skeptically. Surely they had already had the conversation of what had been and wasn't going to be.

She turned back to the bedroom she had walked herself into. Hers and Delia's for the night, of course. Giovanni had generously provided them each acceptable accommodations in his living quarters of the gym. He had been prepared to lavish them with some of his more eloquent rooms but Delia would have none of it.

So she scouted out some rather mediocre rooms in the lower floors of the gym where staff might sleep. Simple stark blue sheets over spring mattresses and wire frame with teal colored wallpaper wrapped the room up in sort of drowning mess of dullness. Even the two florescent lights in the ceiling could do little to brighten up the gloomy room.

Misty made her way to one of the beds and cringed as she sat. They might have found more comfortable beds in a motel.

Gary stood by the door, waiting patiently for her answer. His expression was grim so that meant it wasn't good- whatever he wanted to say.

"What do we need to talk about Gary?" said Misty. "We've debated for hours against that horrible gym leader… And we haven't gotten anywhere except to know that we have to stick around here for another week. I'm exhausted of talking. I just want to go to bed. So please let Delia in…"

"I've told her not to come. Not until I'm done talking to you."

Misty flushed, "I swear Gary. If you try anything I'll scream."

Gary looked startled. He stepped back away from the door, his cheeks going red once he realized the implication behind those words.

"I'm not making you stay in here with me. And I'm not… going to do anything. I promise. You know I wouldn't."

Misty's expression softened. She sighed and rested her face in her hands, "Yes, I know that. I'm sorry. I'm just… so… so overwhelmed. It's been too long a day."

"It's about Ash."

Misty looked up. At her stare, Gary faltered, "Well not exactly… about him. But it has to do with him. Actually it has to do with his father."

"His father?"

"Please Misty. Don't interrupt. It's hard for me to say this," Gary paused and then stared hard at the foot of her bed. "I don't think he even knows this."

"Who?"

"Ash. I mean… I know I told you… that Ash's father was dead."

Misty nodded.

"Well he's not. At least, I thought he was. I didn't realize at the time that he survived… Or if it was even him. But- the way Delia was today and… the way… Oh God. Ash must not have known… when he came to challenge-!"

"Gary! What are you talking about?!"

"_He_ is Ash's father!"

"Who?"

"He is! Him!" shouted Gary, pointing wildly to the door. "Giovanni- the leader of Team Rocket… is Ash's father!"

For a long moment, Misty said nothing. She simply stared wide eyed at Gary as if she believed that he'd suddenly shout "just kidding".

Then Misty swallowed a dry swallow. She looked almost as pale as the sheets on the bed.

"Oh God," she said breathless.

* * *

**"A** key?" Ash repeated dryly. "What are you talking about?"

Andromeda laughed as she refilled both glasses. The nearest she took in hand as she cautiously approached as close as the sparking pikachu would allow. Then took another casual sip before answering,

"I know all about you, Mister Ketchum."

Before Ash could open his mouth to protest, Andromeda held up her index finger.

"_All_ about you," She smiled. "About your training, your standing in the league, your so called heroics. And…"

She paused to shake the raised finger knowingly to the young man. "A certain special little red head."

Ash's cheeks flushed, but not just out of typical embarrassment. "If you hurt her… I swear."

"I'm not insinuating idle threats, boy. I'm simply saying that I know about your… abilities."

Ash cracked a wry smile. He could hardly keep the amusement out of his voice, "Wh-what? If you're talking about training, there are tons better trainers out-"

"Not your training. Heavens no," She paused, eyeing him with those piercing dark eyes. It was if she were examining him, as if he were some sort of prize to obtain or a puzzle to deconstruct. Either or didn't make Ash feel anymore human.

"I'm talking about your abilities as Chosen One."

* * *

**"P**lease tell you you're joking."

Misty was close to tears. Gary could hardly meet her eye. Instead he glared at the floor- damning whatever Delia ever saw in John Giovanni that caused her to want to… do _that_. At least if Ash had known as a child, he'd have had more time to come to terms with the ugly fact. But now, even Gary himself had trouble thinking that Ash was related to the mastermind behind Team Rocket.

Gary shook his head.

"Oh God," Misty ducked her face into her hands. She began rocking herself on the edge of the bed as she chanted, "Oh God. Oh God. Oh God… Dammit!"

She sat up, her face red but not tear stained. "That's why the ransom note was addressed to him. He's the leader of Team Rocket- of course they'd kidnap his son."

"We're just lucky John has something of a conscience."

Misty sent him a look that almost made Gary want to cower. "What conscience? That rat bastard only agreed to fill the ransom when Delia came here to kick his ass… Delia!"

Misty went pale again. Cautiously Gary took a seat at her side. He put a gentle arm around her shoulders. "Try not to think about it."

"Does Ash know?"

"I… I'm not sure. Did he say why he was going back to all the Indigo League gyms?"

"No," Misty rubbed her eyes even though Gary couldn't see if she had been crying. "He just… wanted to do it, I thought."

Misty suddenly grabbed Gary's hand tight. "I just remembered! He said that he knew his mother had lied about what happened to his father. I mean, he didn't tell me that he knew his father was Giovanni but…"

"Do you think that's why he visited Viridian gym? To confront him?"

Misty frowned. "No. He did seem nervous but… I don't know. Outside the gym he said that he was searching for answers. I remember him mentioning a John in the pokemon center but…"

At Gary's hopeful expression, Misty shook her head. "You didn't see him when I was being held hostage. He didn't treat Giovanni like he was his father."

"If Giovanni were my father, I doubt I'd treat him very nice either."

"No, Gary. That's not it at all. I'm sure if Ash knew… He'd want to protect Giovanni until he could get some straight answers," Misty closed her eyes and dreamed up that moment. The expression Ash had when he held the gun against Clark's head before he turned it upon Giovanni. She tried to visualize his eyes as he threateningly teased the trigger finger.

Did he know he had just turned a gun on his father?

"I just don't think Ash had any idea."

"And I certainly don't want to be the one to tell him," said Gary humorlessly.

* * *

**P**ikachu's cheeks had begun sparking at an even deadlier voltage but the expression on the raven haired boy's face remained neutral if not completely blank. His eyes briefly flirted over to where the twins stood guard of the only exit before falling back upon the woman before him.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Andromeda only smiled, undeterred. "Oh come now. Your heroic antics in the Orange Archipelago wasn't exactly a private affair, now was it? I also understand there was an incident in the Hoenn region… A little bit harder to get information about but- word is, you accidentally re-summoned a Lucario using wave energy, am I correct?"

Ash frowned, unconsciously scratching his head. "If you're talking about using wave, I can't. I can barely see it, let alone use it."

"No. I am not. Well, not wave exclusively." She paused again, gently outlining the rim of the glass with her finger. It might have hummed if she had it placed on a solid surface, but in her hands the glass stayed mute of vibration.

Ash sucked in a daring breath, "Then what are you talking about… exclusively?"

She gripped the base of the glass and balanced it precariously in her hands. Ash watched, wondering if perhaps she were teasing him somehow.

"I'm talking about the power the Legendaries have blessed you with. The power to heal pokemon."

Ash snorted. "Heal pokemon? Are you serious? I can't heal pokemon… Or why else would I need to visit a pokemon center? Pikachu here wouldn't ever need check ups."

_'That would be nice,'_ responded the Pikachu.

"Perhaps you are not aware of it. Or perhaps your present powers are only exclusive to the legendary types. Articuno, Moltres, Zapdos, Lugia, Celebi, Suicune, Entei, Lucario… and Mew. All of these legendary pokemon have been attracted to and inadvertently healed by your presence. Not physically or mentally- but by being there, things were set in motion that saved their existence in the universe."

Ash wanted to say that he begged to differ. But said nothing. After all, he didn't want to bring up that it was his fault that Lucario died at the Tree of Beginning. If he hadn't agreed to take Lucario there…

"So you are saying… I'm a good luck charm?"

"Something like that, yes."

"That's nothing like powers," snapped Ash. "That's not a power. That's pure coincidence!"

"You may think so. The rest of the world may think so. But I know that something _happened_ to you," Andromeda smirked, enjoying the pale expression appearing on Ash's face as she continued. "I don't know what it was. Maybe it started out a coincidence, but one day changed all that. And since that day, Legendary pokemon can't get enough of you. They swarm to you like beedrills to honey. You are _attracting_ them."

"How?" Ash muttered faintly.

"I don't know! When did I become the expert?" Andromeda laughed cutting through the tension mercilessly. "But if I were to guess, you must seem different to them. Not human. Not pokemon… Different."

"Different?"

"Well, we can find out right now… now can't we?"

Ash didn't even have to look to know what she was referencing the pokemon in the tank behind him. He turned, his eyes glazing over the sleeping pokemon's form and focusing instead on the reflection that stared back at him. He was a little dirty from his climb through the air ducts. His hair not the brilliant ebony it usual was, more of a dusty gray. The bandage hiding his injury was slightly frayed at the edges, and dark circles sunk beneath his eyelids. He was exhausted of playing this game, wasn't he? Getting dragged into these impossible situations and seeing things that most other trainers only dreamed of seeing once in their lifetime.

Why did it seem to be following him? Not once or twice. But countless times he's seen things, done things, witnessed things that humans were not and had not experienced in over a millennium.

Blessed? Ha. Maybe he would have thought of it that way the first or second time. It was more of a curse than a blessing. Constantly worrying for his friend's lives when they were on road. Worried about running into more disaster- another do or die situation. Of course, he kept his smile on. It was his game face, his way of making it through. But now, here he was, frowning at his reflection.

Was it that first night when Pikachu's thunder attack coursed through his body and sent him rocketing backwards into a paralyzing pain? Because he had thrown the rock? Because he had inadvertently caused injury to his own pokemon? Or because he looked up after the clouds cleared and saw an amazing bird pokemon flying through the sky? What was it?

Had he really died his first day as a pokemon trainer seven years ago? And had whatever beings toying with his fate let him remain in the world as some sort of attractant to trouble? Or perhaps some sort of throwaway hero that is destined to be cast at every single problem the world seems to be having at the moment?

Ash let go a deep sigh of air that he hadn't realized he had been holding in.

And what of this pokemon? Mew. Yes he had seen one when he was ten years old still romping around in the Kanto region thinking that he'd make pokemon master in a few weeks. Forced to inhabit a pokemon center for the entire afternoon to wait out a storm, he had seen this pokemon slip between the clouds. Was it there because he was? Or was Ash just more observant than most people?

And then again, when he and Lucario traveled to the Tree of Beginning. Fifteen years old and still recovering from self loathing, he was actually revived because this pokemon or some other one similar to it decided to sacrifice itself for his own wellbeing.

_Why is that? How do they keep finding me?_

"How did you catch it?"

"It's a remarkable story really. Mew usually only appear for children. Sometimes for distressed children. We just found a little girl, south of New Bark Town, who claimed to have seen the legendary. We followed her to where she spotted it… and then it was a simple matter to persuade the pokemon to rescue her."

Ash gritted his teeth. "You tricked it."

"Oh no. We really _would_ have hurt the girl. No need to worry about that."

Ash whipped around, unable to keep the anger in anymore, "What right do you have to do this to Mew?! Let it go!"

"It's a her actually," said Andromeda unflinchingly, despite the pikachu's crouched approach.

"Mew's are genderless," retorted Ash.

"Generally yes. Mews have no reproductive organs. But they do have their own mental personas that they take. The one hiding in the Tree of Beginning was male. This one, telepathically, is a female."

"That doesn't explain why you're keeping it hostage!"

Andromeda shrugged playfully, "Because we can?"

Ash was caught swallowing his own words. Frowning, he kept his eyes hard on the ground. He wanted somehow to rebuttal what had been said but somehow he knew there was little he could do.

"I'll make a deal with you, boy," said Andromeda drawing dangerously closer. "You do this, and I'll let you go. I'll even overlook the fact that you brought your rat with you."

Pikachu's cheeks sparked in warning but she continued undaunted, "The cards are on the table. Will you do it?"

"Do what?" spat Ash.

She put her arm around Ash's shoulder. He had to fight the urge to recoil at her touch, his eyes briefly glancing in Pikachu's direction. So long as she had her hand on him any electronic current would surge into Ash as well. Pikachu bit down on his power. Andromeda smirked and squeezed Ash's shoulder tighter.

"Why to speak to Mew of course," said she steering Ash to face the comatose pokemon once more. "Wake it up for me. I'm worried if it keeps this up that it will… well, I certainly don't want to lose her."

"I can't speak to pokemon."

"Can't you?" said Andromeda giving the boy a little shake. "Chosen one? Hero of wave? Friend to human and pokemon alike? Come now, don't be modest."

"I'm not being modest," Ash said plucking her hand from his shoulder. "I really can't. I've been with pikachu for the past seven years and all I've managed to get is that it calls me pika pii."

Ash made a face, "Unless all pokemon really say is their name."

"Funny," She turned to where the twins stood guard with nothing close to a smile on her face. "He's funny isn't he?"

Clark stepped forward just as Andromeda turned back. Before either Ash or Pikachu knew was happening, the blonde forced a gun at Ash's face. Terror struck, Ash stumbled backwards- his back gracing the mew's tank.

"Heal mew, Mister Ketchum. Or die," said Andromeda all the sweetness now gone from her voice.

Pikachu stepped boldly out in front of his master, its body coursing with voltage. Ash's expression went from one of panic to that of calm. A smile peeked out from underneath his exhaustion.

"You wouldn't shoot me. You have a ransom to fill."

Andromeda let out an audible and disappointed sigh, "Unfortunately, the boy is right… Clark. Kill his pikachu."

Immediately Ash paled. The gun was quickly pointed towards the sparking rodent. Although pikachu seemed fairly confident that it'd get its shot off before Clark would- Ash didn't want to place such bets.

"No stop! Wait! I'll try, please!" said Ash slowly turning towards the tank with hands raised. "Look, I'm gonna try. Please! Just don't hurt, Pikachu."

Clark loosened his grip but still kept his sights trained on the pokemon. Pikachu too did not lower its guard.

Trying not to pay attention to the gun trained on both his and his pokemon's back, Ash stared into the tank. He gently laid a hand on the glass and tried to concentrate. Aura waves rippled in and out of his sight like invisible ribbons, snaking across the water. But none seemed to surround the floating creature.

_Mew. Mew, please wake up, _Ash tried relaying his thoughts to the suspending pokemon. He outlined each word visually in his mind and tried to physically push them to the pokemon beyond the inch thick glass. He pushed them harder and harder- trying to relay the urgency. _If you don't wake up, we'll die! Please! Wake up!_

The pokemon didn't stir.

"Mew please!" Ash now shouted startling the people behind him. "Please! Its me…" The words fell distastefully on his tongue, unable to do anything but whisper now as he said, "It's the Chosen One. Ash Ketchum, remember?"

He tried to squeeze back the tears forming in his eyes. "Don't you trust me, Mew? Please! Wake up!"

Nothing. Not even a flicker on the brain wave readings. Fighting back his boiling frustration, Ash slammed his fist against the glass. For a second, Ash almost believed the pokemon's eyelids had fluttered. But it was just a trick of the light.

He drew back from the tank, almost not willing to dare turning around.

"Go ahead, Clark," Ash heard Andromeda say.

Ash felt his heart constrict. Before the thought even became conscious in his mind, Ash had moved. The bullet slammed into the back of his leg at the same time the thunderbolt hit him in the chest. He heard the shriek of his pokemon as the electric attack ceased. He fell forward to his knees, only just conscious.

Andromeda was speaking loudly and quickly. When Ash managed to flick his eyes in her direction, her face was contorted with fury.

Medic, Medic- spoke her lips.

Ash fell forward again, only just missing his pokemon. On his hands and knees, Ash saw Pikachu- sobbing, splashed by his own blood. He crawled forward, ignoring the sweat beading down his face. He couldn't move his right leg anymore. He left a trail of thick warm blood in his wake as he pulled himself against Mew's water tank.

And then something quite unusual happened.

The pain vanished. Ash watched in astonishment as leg, a disgusting mess of blood and bone mended itself of its own accord. Magic? Healing powers? Mew?

Ash turned his head so that his cheek now rested against the glass. Mew was still unconscious but a brief glance at the computers showed that its brain waves were racing.

Ash blinked, blinked again.

The aura was now tangled around its form like a giant yarn ball. Was it… Could it be… awake?

A sudden jolt stabbed Ash directly in the chest. As if he had been hit with a sudden sharp pressure between his lungs that knocked the air right out of his body. His eyelids fell as he collapsed onto the tile floor next to his still shrieking pokemon. Pikachu gently knocked itself against Ash's shoulder- but he remained unmoved.

And he was no longer breathing.

* * *

To Be Continued…  
Please Read and Review!

Hey this cliff hanger is even worse! Be careful what you wish for, ne?

I know this chapter came faster than the last. Thanks very much to those who were kind enough to review. That would be another thank you to Airess Byrd, crazyNproud, talal, Miliotic, Axletia Rosonetis, Maguffin2, Crysania Fay, LehCar702, Yami-chan and Unrealistic, and Dreamlight!

Next chapter, Ash has a heart to heart with the legendary pokemon Mew.

Please review! Each and every one of your reviews encourages and inspires me to update faster! After all, authors love to know when their work is appreciated!


	13. Exchanges

**The Blind Alley**

**Disclaimers**: If I owned Pokemon, you would know it.

**AN/** To everyone who believed Ash was dead at the end of the last chapter. You get cookies for being so cute and gullible!

**Last Time On TBA:**

Chosen one, communication, gunshot wounds, and unconsciousness.

Quote: "Don't you trust me, Mew? Please! Wake up!"

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen**: Exchanges

Just be careful what you say  
You might give that little soul away  
-3 Doors Down

**T**he darkness surrounding him suddenly surrendered itself to a halo of yellow light. Ash covered his face in the hook of his arm. It was several seconds before the white glare burning his retinas toned down to a bearable degree. Beyond the ring of light he stood in was the bath of darkness only parted by the sudden interruption. He stepped forward and the light followed him. The more he walked, the more bearable the light became. Until at last, his eyes could see beyond the light- and to the darkness that lay beyond.

Ash was standing on a stage. The curtains parted back at his approach revealing the audience to him. But despite the soft clatter of voices, the chairs according to Ash's sight, remained empty. The quiet roar of bodiless voices had begun to subside- as if they suddenly recognized the boy's approach.

He knew this stage. He knew this place… But he had been apart of the audience before. Not the show.

A lone microphone stood resolute at the edge of the stage, waiting for him. And as he approached it, a wave of unwanted memories washed over him.

* * *

**H**e usually avoided the theatrical performances about the orange islands incidents. Ever since it happened, artists of every sort were determined to display their perception on how the world had been saved. Most were completely bogus. Ash had attended a few with his friends, to get a good laugh. Misty, Brock, Tracey- occasionally Gary even though he seemed envious of the attention the movies and plays gave the mysterious "chosen one".

Ash was able to keep his part in the incident secret… mostly. His mother _had_ used his name on national television. The people on Shamouti island hadn't exactly withheld information from the media. But his last name was kept disclosed because of his only being a minor. And for that he was thankful. Ash had easily been able to outgrown the youthful façade of the scrawny twelve year old "chosen one". While being twelve had been a bitch, thirteen graced him with height- fourteen with a voice change… and fifteen on with a completely different persona. Even those who knew him, didn't recognize him.

After all, that was what Ash was trying to avoid. Being discovered…

For some reason, passing through Dewford town, Ash couldn't help but notice the small bulleted poster on the pokemon center's event board. A theater production called "The Power of One". The graphics were melodramatic and cartoonish renderings of the legendary birds. And of course the mysterious trainer's face was shadowed black.

Perhaps he was simply feeling lonely. Maybe he missed his family and friends that he hadn't seen the past two years. Would there be actors to stand in as his friends? Sometimes Melody would be reenacted. Most of the more popular movies though left Ash standing at the temple playing the silly flute, or worse… singing.

He knew this couldn't be different from any of the others. But still, Ash Ketchum ultimately decided to attend the play.

It really was like all the others. To its credit though, it did get the lines of the prophesy right. And oh how he hated it. Those words that haunted his dream. He mouthed along with the words recited by his 12 year old counter part on stage- still nauseated when the ancient words spelled out his name as chosen one. Oh chosen one. Throw away your life, your normalcy, for the legendaries. Time and time again, we'll always find you.

And then, his look alike on stage placed all three magical spheres on the separate podiums, each glowing via Christmas tree bulbs. Melody, blonde in this production, took her place at his side, playing from a magical lute. Ocarina it was not. The melody, ironically, that Melody played was all wrong. But pretty all the same. And when the world was saved, Melody and Ash shared a kiss, that would have set Misty ablaze, before flying off onto the sunset on Lugia's back.

How simple an ending. How far from reality.

Unbeknownst to the chosen one, two rows behind him sat a pair of staring eyes. They soaked up every chuckle and every gesture Ash made. And the eyes followed Ash after the performance ended. As the crowds went towards the exits, Ash paused to pluck a vibrating cell phone from his pocket.

"Hold on, Gary. I'm heading outside so I can hear you better."

"_Where are you?"_

Ash laughed, stepping outside the theater doors and into the brisk autumn night air. "You ask when you know I'll never answer that question."

He walked away from the crowds, not noticing the person in cautious pursuit. He rested against the brick face of the theater, only a few feet away from the mouth of the theater. He leaned back to get a good view of the night sky, "It's a beautiful night."

"_It's raining where I am." _

"Aw. I'm sorry," Ash smiled displaying mock concern.

Gary made a noise that Ash supposed was to let him know that he wasn't fooled. _"How are you?"_

"I'm alive," responded Ash sarcastically. "I just finished watching a play actually."

"_Oh really? Hamlet? Macbeth? 42 Street? Mamma Mia… please say no. Or perhaps another of those stupid ones about _the chosen one."

"The latter."

Gary sighed. _"How was it?"_

"Horrible. The Power of One," said Ash with a wry smile. "But at least this one wasn't a musical."

"_You know… it's pretty damn egotistical to keep attending plays about yourself." _

"Hey. No it's not. I… I'm just curious to see what people think of me."

"_Don't try to justify it, Ketchum. You know it's true." _

"If you had plays about yourself, you'd understand."

"_Oh but I do."_

"For the last time, _Waiting for Godot_ is not about you, Gary."

"_It might as well be, Godot." _

Ash exhaled nosily. He slid down the wall, braced himself against it, and closed his eyes. The small crowd of people had long since dispersed. He was left beside the empty theater listening to the static on the other line. At last Gary said, _"Do you ever miss it?"_

"Being a hero? No. Actually, I'd prefer for it never to happen again. I want to be a selfish egocentric cowardly bastard that saves his own skin before he gives a damn about anyone else's."

"_Liar." _

"I'm not lying, Gary," Ash opened his eyes again suddenly feeling as if he were being watched. He stood up, eyes scanning the seemingly deserted street anxiously. He only just caught Gary's response of,

"_Then why do you act so damn noble all the time?"_

"Because," Ash retorted, unable to shake the uneasiness. "I can't change who I am."

"_Moron." _

Ash saw it again. Movement- just beyond the trashcans in front of the next building. Ash closed the phone shut on his friend's incessant name calling. Gary wouldn't call back- not until he made some sort of attempt to trace the GPS to Ash's location. Of course, just because Ash had long since removed the tracker on this phone didn't mean that Gary knew just yet.

"I know you're there. Come on out."

Ash half anticipated the motto right then and there. Prepare for trouble and make it double, went old the second time he heard it. But the stalker was silent as he stepped out of the shadows. He was ten year old kid- a rascally kind of look in his eye. He wore a kind of hard hat, goggles suspended from his neck, and a jumpsuit that most beginning trainers sported. What was it with young trainers and their wacky starter outfits? Was casual no longer in style?

He smiled, his bluish black bangs somewhat obscuring his glistening eyes. "I know you."

"Well, I can't say the recognition is mutual," responded Ash. He suddenly wished pikachu had attended the show with him. But with it so worn out after the pokemon battles that afternoon, it decided to stay in the pokemon center for rest. _Stupid_, Ash thought belligerently to himself. _You're unarmed. _

"My name is William. But my friends call me Will," said the young boy. "And you're Ash Ketchum. The one the Gods chose to be master of the pokemon world."

Ash sheepishly scratched his head. "No um. You see… that play's not real. Not- all of it. The legendary pokemon chose me. And they just like… occasionally have me do little chores for them and whatnot. It's not like I reap any benefits from the job."

"How can you say that?" snapped William, startling Ash's nervous laughter into silence. "You're a hero! You've seen more legendary pokemon than any person in the whole wide world!! How can you _not _want to be who you are?"

The time for pleasantries had long since passed. Ash scowled, "Look kid. I don't have to justify myself to you."

"I'm not asking you to," said William. He snatched a pokeball off his belt and thrust it offensively at the older trainer. "I didn't come here to talk, Ash. I came to officially declare you my rival."

Ash could only stare in response. Was this truly a crossroad of life? After all, that was the last thing he had expected. He had rivals before… but he was the one who declared the other his rival, never vice versa.

"Your rival?"

"Yes. Ash Ketchum, I'm going to become a pokemon master first."

* * *

**A**sh stopped in front of the microphone. The bodiless voices had long since ceased, leaving him standing before them. They waited breathlessly for his line. The one he knew by heart.

He closed his eyes and spoke softly into the microphone. It amplified his words so that he was practically swimming in the thickness of his own echo. **"Though the water's great guardian shall rise to quell the fighting,"** Ash paused the words distastefully flooding from his lips. **"Alone its song will fail- thus the earth shall turn to **_**Ash**_**." **

A sudden wind buffeted at Ash's back. When he opened his eyes, the image of the theater had faded. He now stood in a wind swept field, plagued by a coming storm. The wind whipped up his clothes and hair just as easily as it did the waves of grass. He turned, not surprised to see the pink floating apparition before him.

"It's you," Ash shouted over the roar of the wind.

Mew said nothing, its blue eyes blinking innocently down upon him. Its tail whipped out just as fiercely as did the loose articles of clothing against Ash's body. For a moment Ash figured it must not have heard him. He drew closer, unable to keep the stinging wind out of his eyes without looking away from the pokemon.

"You're Mew, right?" Ash shouted again. "I know. I dreamt about you after I was sedated by White Ice. You told me to find you. Well, I did. Now what do you want?"

"i am sorry," said the pokemon at last. Its soothing female voice punctured Ash's conscious mind much quicker than before, startling the teenager. He faltered in his attempt to continue approaching it.

Before Ash could manage to as why it was apologizing, the pokemon continued, "how is your leg?"

Startled again by the pokemon's concern, Ash looked down upon his mended leg. There wasn't even a scar where he had been struck. "Fine. Remarkably so actually… Did you-"

"i did," responded Mew. "the injuries inflicted upon you were my fault. i couldn't very well let you bear the burden of my consequences."

Mew paused, as if to let the information sink in. It did, and suddenly Ash felt a flash of something close to annoyance, "You mean to say you heard me…"

"i apologize for not responding to your pleading. i had been hoping to contact you alone and had no idea that you'd be followed to my state of imprisonment. i'm afraid the information i need to impart on you cannot fall to prying ears, not even ears of your own pokemon."

Before Ash could find a way to respond, he was distracted as Mew began to circle herself around him. Her voice sliding though his mind like liquid, "i'm afraid i was forced to take drastic measures in contacting you- where as before, i was hoping to simply possess the mind of your pikachu for a brief period."

"Possess?" said Ash disturbed.

"harmless. far less harmless than the mind link i had to force upon you, chosen one."

"I don't understand. What do you want from me? I thought I already paid my dues!"

Mew closed its eyes sorrowfully, "i am dying."

All of Ash's indignation at being thrust into the dreamscape suddenly evaporated. The vision of the stormy field froze in time, raindrops frozen in mid air- captured by the rapture of the moment. Ash stared, bewildered by the change of atmosphere and the sudden declaration.

"N- no. Isn't there… isn't there anything I can do? Andromeda said I had the power to heal-" He reached out his hands as if he believed that somehow- and he didn't know how- his touch would renew Mew's life. Like Lucario's had done at the Tree of Beginning. Perhaps he could summon wave aura and…

Mew moved away from Ash's hands almost angrily, "do not believe anything that human has told you. there is nothing you can do to save me from my fate."

"B-but," Ash sputtered, unable to bring himself to say more. Mew, sensing his distress, calmed down. She flew closer to the boy, offering a small smile with her little lips.

"do not mourn me, chosen one. only legendaries can heal legendaries. and i'm afraid i'm beyond the realm of help."

"Then what did you call me here for? If I can do nothing to stop it?" exasperated the teenager.

"i need you to make a difficult choice. and i'm afraid, under these conditions, the choice will be constrained inside a time limit. for if i die before you make the choice- i'm afraid you'll die too, chosen one."

* * *

**W**hen Ash had been shot and the electrocuted, Andromeda set off a volley of curses at the twins. Never mind that Lewis abhorred the use of violence against a fellow trainer, and such a skilled one at that. His brother's continued rash actions left Lewis to pick up the pieces, as usual.

Before Andromeda had formed the command to her lips, Lewis radioed in the medic crew. He had scarcely had time to search the cabinets for the emergency medical kit when Ash was suddenly and miraculously healed. He, surprised just as much as the other three were, almost climbed to his feet. Until suddenly, a backwards glance at Mew sent the boy into a reeling state of shock. He buckled to the floor next to his wailing pokemon.

Lewis was there first, even though Clark was closer. He skidded next to the young man, not that much older than himself, snapping open the first aid kit as he did so. The moaning pokemon, sensing that Lewis only meant to help Ash, actually stepped back. But it didn't cease its piteous wail for its master's consciousness.

Lewis flipped Ash over onto his back, felt for a pulse. It was faint but not fading yet.

Now to make sure he kept breathing.

The medics burst through the doors as Lewis performed CPR on the fallen trainer. Andromeda paced angrily behind the twins, furiously ordering via radio- the team of scientists to hurry up and come rescue _her_ mew. As the doctor relieved Lewis from duty, slipping a breathing mask over Ash's face hooked up to a large tank of oxygen, Lewis noticed.

Mew's brain waves were racing. But its pulse, just as Ash's, had become faint.

"Mew's communicating with him," said Andromeda bitterly to the twins. "Lets hope he doesn't die before he wakes up."

* * *

**A**sh suddenly felt numb, "A choice? You're giving me a choice this time?"

"you've always had a choice, chosen one. to act or not to act. this time is no different from the last. i beseech you to accept a terrible burden. it will not be easy. the responsibility will be great and the strain on your physical body tremendous. no human before you will have carried so heavy a weight," Mew faulted plagued by a sudden spasm.

Ash too felt something jolt inside his chest painfully. He cringed, gripping his chest- his grip tightening on his shirt at every increasing volt of pain.

"our time grows short," cried Mew, who's ethereal voice even sounded pained.

"Why should I accept?" said Ash through gritted teeth.

"because to decline would be an equally horrible burden and responsibility. neither way will grantee your safety, chosen one," another spasm delayed her speech. For several moments, Ash could only focus on the pain that was hallowing out his chest. And then he heard her voice again, close to cynical amusement. "not to act is a choice as well. if you choose to die, your only hardship would be death itself."

"What do you want me to do?"

"the pokemon attacks against humans are increasing. i am afraid i am partially to blame. while i do not harbor any ill will towards humans, my mother does not share my sentiments. i'm afraid things will only get worse once she learns of my death."

"Mother?" Ash barely got out before another stab of pain racked his body. He collapsed to his knees. The frozen grass field instantly changing to that of infinite whiteness underneath him. He blinked past the sweat bleeding into his eyes, trying to concentrate on what Mew had revealed to him.

So the pokemon attacks were because of Mew's imprisonment? And now that she would soon be dead, they'd only get worse… And Mews had mothers? Ash could only vaguely conceive the concept.

"i must survive death, chosen one, to ensure the safety of both our worlds. human and pokemon, mortal and immortal. i must ask- no, plead that you take my soul into your own body and harbor me safely until i can face and cease my mother's fury myself. and…" she added as almost an afterthought, "i must find my son before she does."

Mothers? Sons? It was all making Ash's head spin so much that he couldn't bare to question it, afraid that the answer would be just as confusing. Suddenly the Mew hovering in front of Ash vanished into a small glowing sphere slightly smaller than that of a ping pong ball. It hovered for a moment before flying into Ash's waiting hands.

Ash held the hovering object, he was sure was Mew's true form, uncertainly. "Wh-What will your soul… a pokemon soul inside me… do to me?"

Mew's silence was hollowing. He knew the answer before she spoke, "you will no longer be human."

"So… I'll be turned into a pokemon?"

"not quite. you might not even notice the difference… at first. you will not be human nor pokemon. you will be something entirely new."

Ash leveled the orb in his hand, as if weighing the options it offered. The longer he delayed his decision the more intense the waves of pain grew. He held the orb close to his lips and muttered, "Andromeda said… that to pokemon, I am already not human anymore."

There was a deliberate silence, although Mew knew full well what the implication of his statement was. Until at last, at great length, the legendary pokemon said, "she's wrong. you are human, chosen one. a long time ago, you were touched by a legendary's magic- and that in turn left you with a delicious scent. we legendaries cannot resist the smell of our own kind's magic… but, dear child- you were never not human."

Ash smiled, unable to keep the disappointment off his face. He was going to have to lose something after all.

How easy it would be to simply crush the soul in his hand. To say, hell with the consequences! I live for me! I don't want this burden anymore!

But Ash knew, he was trapped. Choice? What choice? There was no ignoring the fact that he had wandered into a blind alley. They knew how he'd answer. That's why they asked.

So before the last spasm of pain could take him, Ash swallowed the marble sized soul inside himself. It caught in his throat, burning his insides as he tried to swallow it hard down into his chest. It moved agonizingly slow down his esophagus, clinging to the walls of this throat. It clogged his airway so he couldn't breathe. Further and further, he pushed it down until finally he felt it drop painfully into his chest.

And then…

* * *

**A**sh took a deep rasping breath of air. His eyelids flew open and his body jerked upwards, the doctors quickly fought to push the suddenly conscious boy back down. He struggled weakly until Clark- or was it Lewis, grabbed his arm.

"Calm down," the boy instructed. "You're safe now."

_Am not_, thought Ash spitefully. But his current state of exhaustion left him unable to put up much of a fight.

'_Pika pii!!' _sobbed Pikachu suddenly bypassing the doctors to cuddle against his master's shoulder and cheek. '_Stupid Pika pii! Stupid! How dare you do that to me! Again! I hate it when you do this to me! You stupid Pika pii! You're so stupid!" _

Despite its harsh words, it affectionately continued to rub its cheek against Ash's own, spilling tear after thousandth tear.

"Hey Pikachu, I'm sorry I worried you buddy," said Ash weakly stroking his pokemon with one hand.

_'Stupid!'_

"Mister Ketchum is stable, ma'am," called Lewis or Clark or whoever he was. Although Ash couldn't crane his head to see where, Andromeda obviously was still in the room.

Ash only just heard her before he fell through the veils of consciousness.

"Good. Because my Mew is dead and I want to know why."

After that, Ash welcomed the darkness graciously.

* * *

To Be Continued  
Please Read and Review!

I actually wrote this _entire_ chapter in one sitting. Four hours without stopping. It was addictive! Like soda!

Thanks to those who got the chance to review before I threw this new installment at you. Thanks to arrow, BluFox15, Tatsunohouou, YumeTakato, RikuLuvr, Axletia Rosonetis, Milotic, LehCar702, and Pikajenn!

I'm surprised I got this many reviews even though I scarcely gave you guys a day or two to respond to the last chapter! Well, hopefully this cliffhanger wasn't as menacing as the last.

Next chapter, Misty confronts Giovanni about his past. And Ash begins to question his new state of being inhuman.

Please click the button that says go and review if you can! I always appreciate the feedback!


	14. Explain Yourself

**The Blind Alley**

**Disclaimers**: If I owned Pokemon, you would know it.

**AN:// **Unfortunately this chapter didn't come out as fast as the last. But thanks for being patient with me, nevertheless!

**Last Time On TBA:**

A theater play, new rival, a loss of humanity and a dying mew.

Quote: "Mew's communicating with him," said Andromeda bitterly to the twins. "Lets hope he doesn't die before he wakes up."

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen**: Explain Yourself

Well I hoped that since we're here anyway  
We could end up saying  
Things we've always needed to say  
-Nickelback

**M**isty was waiting for her. She sat at the edge of her bed, staring hard at her knees. She didn't even look up when Gary left and let Delia in.

Delia let the door slowly close behind her. Again, Misty didn't move. Delia frowned and made her way to her own bed. It was hard to play ignorant. There was only one reason Gary would want to speak to Misty alone. And Delia was pretty sure it wasn't to confess his feelings. He had already done so many years ago to no avail.

Delia gently undid the bedding. She climbed underneath the soft covers without even bothering to get undressed. When Delia sat, she did so softly- as if afraid that making any noise would encourage the red head into speaking.

But Misty remained silent.

Delia pulled the covers up to her knees and said, "Have you ever had a lapse in judgment, Misty?"

Misty looked up at last. Her cheeks were red where she had rubbed away her tears. "Is that what Ash is? A lapse in judgment?" Misty said, her voice trembling.

"I suppose his conception was."

"How could you... ever..."

"He used to be quite handsome. Ash resembles him somewhat. Except John was... cold," Delia twisted the covers in her hands. "I never loved him. I only needed him... once."

Misty opened her mouth but couldn't speak. So she looked away again, kneading her hands in her lap. Delia considered comforting her but at the moment, Misty was seeking truth. And Delia wasn't in the mood to try to lie anymore.

"I guess I should have told him."

"...Who?"

"Ash," said Delia with a wry smile. "I'm afraid I wasn't ready when he confronted me. That night. I hadn't even _dreamed_ that he might be able to get a hold of his father's name."

"So... So Ash knew that Giovanni-"

Delia shook her head. "John _Ketchum_. Thank goodness that Ash is so naive. He didn't even think to check the surname."

She got a distant look in her eye and tightened her grip around the blankets in her hands. "I panicked. All I could think was that my baby was _only_ thirteen. I couldn't let him know... just how much_ I_ messed up. That I was a stupid desperate _child_ who got into shit deeper than I could climb out of."

Delia quickly added, "But I never regretted him. Not once. I loved Ash too deeply to tell him the truth. If it weren't for Ash," Delia's eyes teared up again. "I was considering other options of recovery."

She rubbed her wrists and closed her eyes. "God, I should have told him then. Damn my pride."

"Why didn't you try to tell him later?"

"He stopped speaking to me," said Delia softly. "Also my fault, I'm afraid."

There was a long and heavy pause. When it seemed that Delia had finished confessing, Misty realized she hadn't much else to say. Misty scooted closer to her pillows. Quietly, she slid underneath the sheets. Her eyes continued watching Delia however, even when she had laid her head gently to rest.

"John loves him," said Delia.

Misty opened her drooping eyelids wide. "He does?"

"Yes. Very much. More so than I would have liked," Delia sent a bitter smile Misty's way. "He went against my wishes many times to see, to meet with Ash. Those kids that followed you around trying to snatch up Ash's pikachu all the time? Unknowingly they were John's mediums."

"But... Team Rocket was trying to-" Misty faltered. "They were the _bad guys_."

"Yes. If I could have done anything to stop it, I would have. But they were perhaps the gentlest... most genial agents in Giovanni's whole arsenal... Course if they had known that they were supposed to watch over Ash, chances are something would slip. Being Giovanni's sole heir, he'd have expectations tacked to him at birth. His chances to grow up as a normal little boy would be lost. And we _both_ wished that Ash would be able to lead a normal life."

Delia let out a small chuckle, "Goodness. We've certainly failed at that, haven't we?"

* * *

**A**sh let out another beleaguered sigh. One quick glance behind him did not improve his sullen mood.

"God, what is it with people and stalking me?" Ash griped to the yellow rodent perched on his shoulder. The two looked back again at the small ten year old tailing them. Unlike his previous red-headed stalker, William did not go to any means of hiding the fact that he was following. In fact, he often waved back just to piss off the older trainer more.

And like before, once he saw Ash was looking, William waved cheerfully back. Ash harrumphed as he turned to face forward again and quickly doubled his strides. There was little chance at outrunning the boy, persistent and resourceful as he was. But that didn't stop Ash from trying.

He could hear the clatter of footsteps as William increased his pace as well. Pikachu swayed lazily on his master's shoulder watching as Ash failed to increase any distance between them.

'_He's still following us,'_ said Pikachu.

"I know, I know," grumbled Ash. He didn't even need a translation to know what Pikachu was pointing out.

_'Hate to break it to you Pikapii, but you aren't going get rid of him. He's too much like you.'_

Ash closed his eyes and stopped in the middle of the path. It seemed that at Ash's sudden change of tactics, William was thrown off guard. Ash kept his fists tight against his side listening carefully. The footsteps behind him slowed cautiously. William approached reluctantly and then tentatively passed by.

Ash stopped him dead with a single, "Hey."

Ash opened his eyes and glared at the small ten year old in front of him, "Stop following me, okay?"

William puffed out his cheeks as if it would make him more intimidating, "I'm not following you. We just happen to be going in the same direction."

"Please," snapped Ash with a wave of his hand. "I did wide loop arounds in the woods. And this morning I got up and went in the opposite direction that I had previously been traveling. Either you've got a conveniently bad sense of direction that correlates with wherever I'm going or you're lying."

For a moment, William seemed at a loss of words. Apparently where he was going did not concern him as much as where _Ash_ was going. Then he let a mischievous grin overtake his face. "Hee," he said.

"You _are_ following me!"

"Well yeah... maybe."

"Stop it!" spat Ash.

Ash glared but it didn't seem to be working. William ignored his severe look and instead took notice of the pokemon resting on his shoulder.

"Why do you keep your Pikachu out of its pokeball?"

Ash smiled, scratched Pikachu behind the ears and said, "Because Pikachu doesn't like his pokeball."

Pikachu snuggled up against Ash's cheek "chuu-ing" contentedly. William stared and then loomed closer until his face was uncomfortable close to pikachu's own.

"Hmm?" William peered at Pikachu. "You know you decrease their life expectancy at least by a third that way. I know. I read it in a book."

Pikachu paled. He sent a pleading look Ash's way. Ash only frowned, "I've never heard that."

"And you don't give your pikachu a name?"

"His name is Pikachu," said Ash sternly.

"Oh," William raised an eyebrow tauntingly. "That's kinda mean, hm?"

Ash shared a confused look with his pokemon before replying, "What's wrong with it?"

"Well people don't usually go around calling you _human_ do they?"

Pikachu crouched down lower on his trainer's shoulder and said, _'Pikapi... I'm gonna thundershock him in about thirty seconds whether you give me the order to or not.'_

Ash saw the sparking cheeks from the corner of his eye and just smiled. He lightly pat Pikachu's head and muttered, "If I can't, you can't."

Pikachu's ears drooped but it did not surrender its glare for the younger trainer. _'He's way too much like you back then, Pikapii.'_

"Look. William..."

"Will."

"Will, whatever," said Ash with a roll of his eyes. "You can't keep following me around like this. I mean, I've already got tons of annoying people who follow me around... I don't need anymore."

"Oh. Who then?"

"Well..." began Ash. "I can think of three people off the top of my head right now."

William glanced about the forest around them. The shade of the trees made the deeper woods that much darker. But there didn't appear to be three other strangers following Ash around. Certainly not in the time period in which William had been following him in any case. "They don't seem to be following you now."

Ash rubbed his neck sheepishly, "That's cause... they're better at it than you are."

William made a face. "I don't believe you."

He took a few more steps backward. Ash attempted to follow. He was just about to say, "If you stick around me long enough you're bound to run into them" when the ground beneath them gave way.

William landed at the bottom of the pit face first.

Ash, who had all too often fell victim to the pit fall, reacted quickly and grabbed Pikachu into a tight hug. He knew that sooner rather than later some sort of giant claw or net or something would be reaching in to take Pikachu out. And so long as he kept track of where his Pikachu was there was a lesser chance that they'd be separated. With Pikachu in one hand, Ash reached out last second and managed to grab hold of a low hanging root. But being unable to support his weight, the root ripped off the loose dirt wall. He stumbled down on top of William.

"I spoke too soon," said Ash bitterly.

"What?" sputtered William spitting dirt out of his mouth.

A dry ice fog spilled over the top of hole and lights from a cheap disco strobe light painted it flashes of neon colors. The laughter was unmistakable.

"Please don't sing the motto. _Please_ don't sing the motto," muttered Ash mostly to himself.

**"Prepare for trouble."**

**"Make it double." **

"Ah dammit," said both Ash and Pikachu in unison.

**"To protect the world from devastation."**

**"To unite all people within our nation."**

**"To denounce the evils of truth and love." **

**"To extend our reach to the stars-** ouch! Who threw that?"

Meowth poked her head over the edge just to get smacked full in the face. He retreated howling, "Oww! Da twerp is lugging rocks at us!"

William watched as Ash snatched up another handful of rocks from the loose soil and began chucking them up the hole towards the disembodied voices.

"I am _so_ not in the mood today!" Ash shouted as he hurled a few more stones at the trio he knew was hiding up there. "Just go away!"

"If you think we're going to give up that easily you've got- ow! My face!"

"Jessie!" cried James.

"Oh James, am I bleeding?"

Ash stopped in mid swing. Had he hurt one of them? He didn't even think it was possible. How many times had pikachu blown up their air balloon? Thousand volts of electricity... a rock, the difference wasn't too deadly. Surely they were nothing short of immortal?

And then Meowth piped up, "It's just a scratch. Melodramatic much? _Ouch! Hey! I know dat wasn't a rock, Jess!_"

Their voices were muffled between yelps and the occasional grunts. It appeared a skirmish had broken out between them, not that that was unsurprising. Ash sat back next to the baffled William until at last Team Rocket remembered he was there...

"Until tomorrow twerp," called the shrilly voiced woman into the hole. "We'll dig you a hole without so many rocks."

They could see from their position the Meowth balloon rise from the rim of the hole and then drift over the low tree line. It was a bit easier than normal, but then with recent budget cuts- claws and nets were used only for opportune moments. Certainly not when he was with other pokemon trainers. They'd already learned that lesson about a hundred times over.

"Good riddance," grumbled Ash, dusting off his hands and dropping the last batch of rocks back into the dirt.

"Wh-why didn't you battle them?" asked William.

Ash met William's perplexion with some of his own. "If I send my pokemon out against them, they'll just throw nets or claws and giant inviso-grip hands at me and kidnap them. Do you even realize how many times I've beaten those three? They've been stalking me since day one. And they still have only three pokemon between them! They'd never fight fair."

William tried to brush some of the dirt off his face but only managed to smudge it further. He smiled admiringly over at Ash as he fished out his Bulbasaur's pokeball.

"So they are your three stalkers. Some pokemon thieves. They must consider your pokemon pretty rare then."

"I guess," Ash shrugged and tossed the pokeball up to the top of the hole. Out of a flash of red emerged the green dinosaur. Without even being asked, it lowered its vines and wrapped them about Ash's waist. Ash held out his arm so that Pikachu could easily climb back up onto his shoulder.

"And two. Those were two of my stalkers. One of them is a pokemon," said Ash before starting the climb up to the top of the pit fall.

"Who's the third?"

William swore he caught a blush on the older trainer's face. But Ash quickly turned away from him. Instead he didn't say anything until he reached the top and instructed Bulbasaur to carry William up as well. As soon as the vines had fastened securely around William's waist, Ash met his eye.

"Her name's Misty. But she hasn't been following me for quite some time."

"The Indigo League's Cerulean city gym leader. Yeah. She and Pewter's city gym leader, Brock were following you around for almost four full years," said William cheerfully, happy to spill out any of the factoids he had in his well of information on Ash's life.

"Yeah," said Ash distractedly. "Almost."

William scrambled up the last foot or so himself. The vines about him loosened and Ash returned the chipper pokemon after a kind pat and thank you. He hitched the pokeball back to his belt and smiled over to William.

"If you're gonna keep following me around, you're gonna need to learn not to fall for such obvious traps."

William frowned, "It wasn't _that_ obvious."

"Come on," said Ash with a toss of his head. "Team Rocket _always_ plants pit falls in the middle of forest paths. If you walk to the side, like so-"

But Ash never finished his statement. Because only a few feet away from the pitfall, a rope snagged about Ash's ankle. He was flipped instantly up into the air- hanging upside from the nearest tree. Pikachu, the more unfortunate one, was flung from Ash's shoulder and onto the ground beneath where he hung. Grumbling, Pikachu along with William stood beneath him.

William grinned up at him. "You were saying?"

Ash crossed his arms and tried to look as dignified as one could hanging by one foot from a tree. He sighed, "Go ahead. Laugh. See if I help you out of any future traps."

William obliged and then kindly unhooked one of his own pokeballs off his belt.

"Go Ivysaur!

* * *

**A**sh woke up feeling as if he hadn't slept at all. His head felt like someone had played a few games of bocce ball with it. The base of his neck hurt the worst. Ash sat up carefully, bracing his head as the cot he laid in squeaked in protest. The room rank with the distilled odor of rubbing alcohol and illness. He could only assume that he had found himself in a hospital again.

The realization should have given him more panic than it did.

It was small. No bigger than his bedroom back home and certainly not typical hospital standard. There was a sink and a few low hanging cabinets in arms distance from his cot. His reflection swam across the warped metal surfaces of the cabinet doors. The walls were bare and made of white cement bricks. Everything in the room was either white or silver. And of course, the only door in the room was barred.

Ash just tried to backtrack to what had happened before he passed out. The information swirled around in his brain like melted ice cream. Useless mush. No amount of prodding would perk it up into its former glory. He had been kidnapped. He remembered that rather quickly, (as if the barred door wasn't any hint). And he had been shot.

Ash's hand went down to his calf. But there wasn't even a scar_. Yes, that's right. There wouldn't be one. Because of Mew. _

Ash opened his eyes again with a start.

With far more daring, Ash leapt from the cot. He rushed over to inspect himself in the reflection cast by the low hanging medicine cabinets. His heart lumped in his throat as he inspected every inch of his face. His eyes. His hair color. His ears. His nose...

He looked for horns, tails, clawed feet, feathers... anything else that could suddenly be a grotesque appendage added to his body. But the boy that stared back at him seemed remarkably like the same one before, abet a bit paler with somewhat darker circles under his eyes. He still had his black hair. His brown eyes. His scruffy unkempt appearance.

There was no sign that he had surrendered his humanity. In every physical aspect, Ash looked normal.

Ash stared hard at the eyes that met his own. Did he feel different? Ash couldn't tell. Every twitch, every heartbeat seemed suddenly so foreign. Everything was a potential threat to his remaining normalcy.

He poked his cheek and frowned. "I... I think I'm okay."

And yet, the words seemed to hallow out his chest.

There it was.

Ash could feel it as he pressed his fingertips against the cold mirror- as he traced the silhouette of his face. His whole body felt heavier somehow. A weight had been added to his chest. There was a pressure pushing down on his shoulders, trying to force him to his knees.

His head continued to throb painfully. Ash let go of his reflection and rubbed the back of his neck.

_What now? _Ash thought bitterly. _From here... where can I go? _

He met his own reflection's eyes again. The pupils seemed suddenly so much deeper.

_I'm not even sure where to start. I need to find Mew's family... so I can put a stop to those wild pokemon attacks, _Ash glanced at the barred doors and fought back a wry smirk. _Well, I should probably start by trying to find a way out of this place._

Ash reached down the front of his shirt for Pikachu's pokeball. But he couldn't find the chain. The panic began to rise in his throat. He shook out shirt but nothing came. He ran to the cot and started to tear it apart.

"Where is it? Where is it?" Ash cried, running his hands through the sheets for the small flat disk and chain.

"Where is what?"

Ash whirled about, dropping the sheets at his feet. Lewis closed the door tightly behind his back with one hand. With the other hand, he held out a tray of food. He tipped the tray in Ash's direction, "Hungry?"

"Where's Pikachu?" Ash hissed.

"Hm," said the guard laying the tray down on the counter next to the sink. "The meat is a bit rubbery. But you can't say no to sugar-free jello."

The tray went clattered across the floor as Ash lunged. He grabbed Lewis by the front of his shirt. His face dangerously close to Lewis' own. "I said where is my Pikachu, you sonva bitch."

Lewis didn't even bat an eyelash. "Safe. But only so long that you play your part."

"What part?"

"You are expected to meet with Andromeda as soon as you wake up."

"I'm awake."

"I can see that."

Ash frowned, "What does she want?"

"She wants to know why her Mew is dead."

"Mew wasn't hers... and I didn't kill her if that's what you're thinking."

"I didn't think that at all."

"If that's all she wanted to know why didn't she come here herself."

"Andromeda is a careful woman," Lewis unhooked a strange gantlet device from his belt and held it out for Ash to see, "You have to come quietly."

Ash let go of Lewis and sat back down on the cot. "Quietly, huh?"

"You sure you don't wanna have some jello first?"

* * *

**S**he was waiting for him that morning. Misty was leaning against the banister when Giovanni opened the door. He paused in the door frame, meeting the younger girl's eyes. He didn't seem surprised. Instead, he just sighed and pushed the door open wider, "Would you like to come in?"

Misty walked through the space provided. The room beyond seemed fitting for the viridian gym leader. It was lavish with exotic furs and velvet curtains. The back wall was covered with computer monitors all shut off. A staircase wound its way up from the computer station to an upper loft. The master bed on the loft looked far more comfortable then what Misty had to deal with last night. But the blankets and pillows stuffed in the computer chair seemed to hint that Giovanni didn't really have a good night sleep either.

Giovanni followed Misty in. She stopped a few steps in and turned back to Giovanni. The gym leader only smiled and gently pushed the graying hairs out of his eyes. "You want to yell at me? Go ahead. I won't stop you."

"Delia said you love him."

Giovanni was given a start. He stared and Misty continued, her face still stern. "Do you?"

He let out a hallowing chuckle. "She said that?"

"I don't believe it," said Misty. "She said you went against her own back to keep an eye on him. You never wanted Ash's pikachu... Did you want to kidnap Ash?"

"This again?" Giovanni shook his head and went to his computer chair. He sat down and spun the chair about to face his guest. "Why would I kidnap him?"

"He's the sole heir to your criminal organization. Delia was trying to keep him from you."

"You're right. Delia _was_ trying to keep him from me," Giovanni smiled wryly. "But I didn't want to kidnap him. And I didn't wish for him to inherit Team Rocket."

"Then why-"

"Do you know what happened... Ash's first night as a pokemon trainer?"

Misty shook her head. "He stole my bike but-"

"The first night of Ash's pokemon journey, he showed up at the Viridian check point hardly able to walk the rest of the way. Electrical burns, cuts, bruises, and a concussion... He almost lost his pikachu. And if it weren't for his pikachu, Ash would have never made it to the check point. I had to act quickly. I immediately sent a nearby team to the viridian pokemon center."

"To attack him!"

"No. To track him. I had... fail safes installed in their balloon should they succeed. It was never my intention to steal Ash's pikachu. It's thanks to that pokemon that my son is still alive," He smiled sadly. "If anything I'd like to thank it."

"Why did you leave them then?"

"I didn't," Giovanni quickly frowned. "Did Delia say that? I never left... She..."

Giovanni covered his face. "After that night she disappeared," He muttered through his hands. "I tried to find her. I didn't even know I had a son until he was already five years old. I... I wanted- I wanted to be Ash's father. I was... under the illusion that she could possibly love us both. But she didn't want me."

He looked up at her. "I loved her but she didn't love me. So I stepped aside."

"I don't belie-"

"How can you love someone that doesn't love you back? I still... love her but... I couldn't keep pretending."

Misty looked away. Giovanni noticed.

"You like my son."

She nervously gripped her crossed arms and closed her eyes. "He doesn't..."

"He does," Giovanni interrupted.

Misty looked back to him, the tears just starting to fall. "You don't know that."

Giovanni just smiled. "Just don't wait until it's too late to ask."

* * *

**T**he restraint cut into Ash's wrists. As soon as they were fastened on, they clamped together magnetically. The red light on the center of the top gauntlet blinked in beat with his pulse. Ash suspected that if he managed somehow to remove the gauntlets without Lewis' help, everyone in the base would be immediately notified.

Ash let Lewis lead the way. Lewis took him down a series of long hallways all of them with tinted windows and locked doors. Just outside the door in question, Lewis paused.

"Your pikachu... it adores you."

Ash stared hard at the back of the younger boy's head. "Yes. And I feel the same about him so you be-"

"That relationship is... remarkable," Lewis turned back to Ash. "I've never seen anything like it before."

Ash could only frown in response. Lewis didn't reiterate himself. He unlocked the door and gently pushed Ash inside. The room was empty save for a long one way tinted mirror, a table and two chairs. Ash took a seat and Lewis hooked Ash's restraints to the table.

A long chain of energy hooked from his wrists to the surface of the table. Ash flexed his hands and tested the length. He could only lift his arms up a foot or so.

"Don't bother trying to break them," said Lewis. "They won't."

Lewis shut the door behind him.

* * *

**P**rofessor Oak hadn't been expecting any visitors this late at night. He was only still awake because he was making a few last minute adjustments to his newest invention. A type of electronic encyclopedia which should absorb data instantly about a species of pokemon when the laser was within scanning distance. He hadn't quite yet decided what to name it.

The doorbell rang that evening unexpectedly. At first, Oak thought it might have been his daughter. She had left a few hours earlier showing off his new grandson. Maybe she forgot something.

"Coming," Oak called briefly glancing in the front side mirror to make sure his hair was laying flat. He smoothing back his brown hair, frowning at the bits of gray that had begun to form in places. He didn't think he could take the old man that was starting to peer back at him through the mirrors lately.

Professor Oak opened the door startled to find a stranger behind it. She was a young woman, no older than his own daughter. Her hair was cropped short messily. And she looked as if she had walked the entire way through the rain. He saw no sign of a vehicle having taken her here. She wore a large overcoat but even through it, Oak could tell this woman was heavily pregnant.

"Professor Oak," the woman began half out of breath. "I need your help."

She gingerly held out a pokeball, one of his recent upgrades. But there was something... wrong. Oak took the wet object from the woman, twisting it around in his hands. There was... a blade sticking out of it. It look liked it had struck through the central release mechanism.

"What is this?"

"Please," the woman pleaded. "You have to save my Pikachu."

* * *

To Be Continued...  
Please Read and Review!

I hope that was a good enough cliff hanger for you all.

Thanks so much for those who reviewed last chapter. Thanks to Jew4Life, Nicole, smileyaili, MoonKaiser, Rastanton94, Dreamlight, Airess Byrd, rabidcatking, Carw Cyfddydd, LehCar702, YumeTakato, BluFox15, Milotic, Twilight in Rain, RikuLuvr, Axletia Rosonetis and but not least, Tatsu-no-Houou.

Next chapter, the interrogation. And a few more family secrets are exposed at long last.

Please leave a review and happy holidays!


	15. Ruined

**The Blind Alley**

**Disclaimers**: If I owned Pokemon, you would know it.

**AN:// **I hope everyone had a good holiday season! I understand some people were concerned that the last update was a bit confusing in its flashback layout. I apologize. I got a bit carried away. And unfortunately this one might not be that much better. But I hope you all just hang in there with me!

Will's flashback was supposed to be a dream sequence for Ash- him remembering back to it as he slept (since Mew recently reminded him of William). I apologize for not making that clearer. As I said, I got carried away. :)

And those of you asking what Will's point is, hopefully that will be cleared up next chapter. He is an important person- at least to Ash, he is.

**Last Time On TBA:**

Conversation, stalker, unrequited love affairs, the missing pikachu, handcuffs, and damaged goods.

Quote: "Please," the woman pleaded. "You have to save my Pikachu."

* * *

**  
Chapter Fifteen:** Ruined

I stood at a distance  
To feel who you are  
Hiding myself in your eyes.  
-Goo Goo Dolls

**H**e led her to the front foyer, a waiting room of sorts. It was stark and plain, with some hard plastic chairs, and an end table with a few scattered magazines on it. There wasn't much business in attracting customers to his lab, especially when most of them would be pokemon or family. Maybe someday that would change.

Oak gently helped the woman to the nearest chair. He helped her peel off her wet trench coat and draped it over the chair next to her. Once he knew the woman was properly situated he went back to inspecting the damage done to the pokeball. The knife had an ornate handle, a fantastic design. One really had to admire the craftsmanship- if only it weren't embedded so deeply within an occupied pokeball. So deep it possibly even nicked the opposite hinge.

"How on earth did this happen?" said Oak in a hoarse voice.

The woman fidgeted. "I'd... It was an... accident."

She didn't meet his eye when she spoke the word _accident_, so Oak could only assume that there was more to it than that. The woman had her hands wound protectively over her stomach and her head bowed low. She looked almost feverish in the low light.

"How long ago did it happen?"

The woman flushed, "I've been to see many people, Mister Oak. I... I was told that you specialized in this grade of pokeball and I... I'm not a local."

"A week? A month?"

"Eight months."

Oak's frown deepened. He twisted the pokeball about in his hand and stared at it to avoid staring at the distressed woman. The longest a pokemon could survive in its pokeball without food and water was standing at the world record of 39 days. Oak never left his pokemon inside the contraptions over forty eight hours.

"I'm sorry," He said gently placing the pokeball back into her waiting hands. "I know this may be hard for you to hear, but I don't think your pikachu is..."

"I know," She interrupted. Oak was taken aback. She clasped her hands around his, keeping his hold on the pokeball. Her dark eyes met with his own. The look she gave him made Oak forget to breathe. So sincere and so pleading, she held onto him so hard that she was hurting him.

"I know," the woman repeated. "I know pikachu is... but I just need... I need to get him out of there. I can't leave him in there. Please, please Mister Oak."

Oak reluctantly tore his gaze away. Her hands were trembling. And somehow, he understood.

"I'll do the best I can."

He could see the relief in her face. She bowed her head to hide the tears and whispered, "Thank you, Mister Oak."

"Please, call me Samuel," He smiled politely. "I'd prefer that."

Her grip on him loosened. "I'm sorry. I can't tell you my real name."

Oak caught his tongue before he tried to ask why. Obviously there was a lot more to this woman than just a broken pokeball and a wet trench coat.

Very gently, Oak slipped his hands out of her own. The pokeball and her hands fell lightly back into her lap. She looked wearily back up to his face, searching for something... pity perhaps? Forgiveness?

"What would you like me to call you two then, miss?" said Oak not unkindly.

Shyly, with a short glance towards her swollen belly, she smiled back. "Dido... Dido and Ashton."

* * *

**A**sh sat with his head cradled in his hands, resting his eyes. It was hard to keep himself in check. With Pikachu out there somewhere, possibly trapped in a pokeball, Ash just couldn't stand being unable to do anything about it. His arms were shaking, and he gently lowered them- the electronic bonds sinking into the table as he did so.

He had already tested the length of his handcuffs multiple times. He could only get about a foot away from the table on either side. Leaving him perhaps enough room to pace but not well. So Ash just pulled up one of the chairs and tried to relax. Although he had never been in an interrogation room before, he had seen it tons of times on police dramas. They left you in there for hours just to sweat- wondering why you are there or what they might do to you. Its a fairly good lip loosener.

Not that Ash could be as easily won.

The wait just gave Ash extra time to mull over what Mew had told him. He still needed to find Mew's son. Despite that fact that mews were asexual and could not have offspring. Likewise was he to stop Mew's mother. Were they mews themselves? Ash could only suppose so. Trying to think outside the box only made his brain hurt.

Ash briefly touched his chest and wondered again how he had changed. He felt... unusual. But not so much so that he could pin point exactly how different he felt. Heavier. As if he were carrying more weight than usual in his chest.

Ash closed his eyes and let go a small sigh.

"I hope you're not falling asleep on us, Mister Ketchum."

Ash snapped back to attention as Andromeda entered the room. She practically glided the short distance from door to table. She did so with a grace remarkable for one wearing stiletto heels. This time her long blonde hair was pulled back tight in a low ponytail and her outfit was more similar to the white and blue of her comrades, with an extra flourish here and there. Andromeda pulled back the chair opposite of Ash and sat down.

"Well," She said folding her long fingers together on the glassy black table in front of her. "How should we start?"

"Maybe with why the hell you kidnapped me," spat Ash irritably.

"Yes, surely... if you were the one asking the questions. But I'm afraid I'm asking the questions. So let's start where I say we start, alright?"

She smiled a painfully fake smile. Ash did not return the sentiment.

Suddenly, the smile disappeared.

"Let's cut straight to the chase then," she said coolly. "What happened between you and my mew?" Ash offered her a mock look of surprise that she did not appreciate, "I know she contacted you telepathically. What did she say? Why did you let her die?"

"I didn't _let_ her die. She was already _dying_ thanks to you bastards," Ash paused and momentarily lowered his gaze to the edge of the table. "I tried to save her but I was too late."

"Hm. I don't know why but I'm going to believe you."

Ash sent her a sharp look that she ignored.

"I doubt very seriously you'd purposely let a pokemon die in front of you. You're too much like your mother after all," She gently tapped the end of his nose, much to Ash's disgust. "I'm sure you'd just fall to pieces, right? If you killed someone..."

She smiled mischievously at Ash's rancorous glare.

"Don't go there," he said.

"Oh please," Andromeda rolled her eyes, gently tossing her light hair back with one hand. "Don't get all self righteous with me. Save it for someone who cares. So you killed someone, so what? I've killed tons of people."

She stood up and leaned over the table, dangerously close to Ash's face. "And I _never_ regretted pulling the trigger."

Ash didn't flinch. Instead he met her gaze, fiercely. "And that's _exactly_ why I always will."

Andromeda shrugged and receded back to her seat, "Suit yourself."

"Since you still haven't answered my other questions, we'll come back to them, hm? How about we move on..." She clicked her nails against the glassy surface before pointing one of the perfectly manicured daggers his way.

"Next question," she smirked smugly. "Where's Mewtwo?"

* * *

**T**here was nothing to do about the ice that was forming hard in her throat. Misty paced the narrow hallways of the Viridian Gym, ignoring those others whom she had previously sought out. This was her time now. She needed a moment to breathe and take in what had just been dumped onto her.

A wave a sleepless dizziness washed over her, a painful reminder of the time she had already taken for her thoughts. Misty paused, bracing herself against the wall. All night she churned and digested Delia's words, trying to form a picture of Ash's past. Now, with Giovanni tossed into the mix, the jig saw puzzle, that had only just been coming together, was tossed into the air again.

Misty closed her eyes. She tried not to think about him. His real parents, his conception, all of the lies hardly took credence over the fact that he was being held captive somewhere. The thought just made the icy panic rise higher in her throat.

_What do they want with him? Will they hurt him? Do we have any chance to save him at all, or are we just trying to thwart the inevitable? _

She slid down the wall and curled herself up against it. As if by doing so she could disappear into it. Forget her painful anxieties... forget Ash. Hugging her arms to her chest, Misty took in a deep breath and then slowly let it slide back out between her pursed lips. She took two more similar breaths, coming to a decision in her mind.

"Ash will be okay," Misty said aloud for her benefit alone. "And if he isn't..."

She paused, swallowed a dry swallow and reflected for a moment on the possibility.

"If he isn't... then I'll be there for him."

* * *

**H**e didn't know why but the name sent a chill shooting through his body. Ash stared blankly ahead, trying to make the word form sense in his mind. It was ludicrous really. A Mew... two? But yet, somehow Ash felt deep inside that this pokemon did exist.

It sounded _familiar_.

And there was the fact that he was supposed to be looking for a certain pokemon. Mew's son. Mewtwo. Could it be...?

When Ash didn't not respond right away, Andromeda was left to assume. She leaned closer. Ash caught the heavy bouquet of her perfume, "Where is he, Ash?"

Ash snapped out of his thoughts. "What?"

"Where is Mewtwo?"

"I don't know."

"Oh you don't, do you?"

"I don't," Ash frowned at her skeptic look. "But I wouldn't tell you where it was even if I did. What, so you can cage it up... or dissect it and jar up its organs...?"

Andromeda laughed her high pitched laugh once again. Ash jumped slightly at the sound. He quickly composed himself though- glaring his captor down.

"Oh you certainly do have a colorful imagination," She simpered. "But I find it hard to swallow, Mister Ketchum.... that your father never told you about his precious experiment?"

"Experiment... What are you talking about? My father wasn't a scientist. He was a seasoned Kanto Pokemon trainer."

Andromeda's face broke into a wider grin. "Is that what he told you?"

"No," said Ash, his voice faltering into barely a whisper. "My mother... she said that he... He... He _is_ dead, isn't he?"

As soon as he said it, Ash regretted. Andromeda laughed again, high and loud- and long. Ash felt too sick to be angry at her for laughing at him. He clutched his arms to keep himself from shaking.

This wasn't exactly the person he wanted to get his information from.

He didn't want to accept that he had been right. That his mother _had_ lied to him. Somehow, deep inside, Ash had hoped that he was the one that was out of line. Surely- _surely _his mother hadn't convinced him that he didn't have a father... hadn't kept Ash from knowing him?

But in Andromeda's laughter, Ash realized that there were a lot of things his mother had kept hidden. Including the existence of this horrible person in front of him.

"So the little bitch kept you in the dark?" Andromeda jeered. "That is _so_ like her."

"Shut up!"

"You want to know _why_ she never told you who your father was?"

Andromeda closed the distance between them, placing her cold hands on either side of Ash's face. She forced him to look at her. Ash felt as though she had seized his heart. He struggled only briefly, her iron grip on his face making it painful to pull away.

"Because of _who_ your father is," she hissed.

Ash finally pulled himself free of her grip but not fast enough to avoid hearing the name.

"John Giovanni."

Ash whirled about, his face a chalk white. Andromeda relished in his horror. "Yes that's right," She said. "The leader of Team Rocket is your father."

* * *

"**A**nything?" asked Gary as he wandered into one of the surveillance rooms. The guard didn't even glance up. He continued to type one handed, researching something that Gary could only suppose was going to help them rescue Ash somehow.

And what was his name again? Steven? Stewart? He thought it might have been Stephan.

Gary came up behind the rocket member and glazed lazily at the computer screen. It appeared to be a map of the various regions, with a scattered spread of flashing dots across the land masses like sprinkles on a cupcake.

"What's this?"

"This," said Stephan (or Steven) pointedly, side scrolling to zoom out. "Is none of your business."

Gary ignored him. He leaned over the man's shoulder to carelessly tap the screen, "Are those White Ice encampments? There's barely a dozen of them... We could probably round down to the few Ash was-"

"They are ours. Our remaining two man teams," interrupted Stephan, while swatting the boy's hand away with his one good one. His voice took on a somber note as he continued. "The boss wants us to gather his forces. There are about sixteen teams left loyal to our cause... Maybe five of them are confidant enough to stand a chance."

Gary said nothing for a long moment. He stared blearily at the flickering dots, not yet fully willing to fathom the idea of a Rocket-White Ice clash, despite how inevitable it seemed to be approaching. There had once been a time that the decreasing number of Rockets would have thrilled him. Now, despite how backwards the feeling seemed in his mind, he felt incredibly disheartened. They were horribly... _horribly_ outnumbered.

"You scared?" Stephan asked.

Gary swallowed, but didn't meet the man's eye. "I'd be an idiot if I weren't at least... nervous."

"Hm..."

"Can I ask you a question?" said Gary without waiting for an answer. "Why are you still here?"

Without any pause, Stephan said, "Got nowhere else to go."

"You could be on _their_ side."

"You could be too."

Gary frowned. "For your information, the guy they kidnapped is my best friend."

"So? He seemed pretty chummy with that girl of yours before- this best friend," At Gary's grave expression, Stephan rose an inquiring brow. "Or perhaps it is the other way around then?"

"My relationship with Misty is purely plutonic."

"Hm. That sounded rehearsed."

"It's the truth."

"Plutonic for her. Or plutonic for you?"

Gary couldn't bare to meet Stephan's eye. The Rocket member took the silence as his answer.

"Don't mean to pick at your scabs, kid. I just call them as I see them," Stephan shrugged, turning back to his work. "Anyway, to answer your previous question, I just don't swing that way. When I pick a side, I stick with it."

"That makes two of us."

"Though I wouldn't mind being on the other end of the odds."

Not able to look anymore, Gary gently pushed off Stephan's shoulder.

"Where are you going?" asked Stephan, whirling about in his swivel chair as Gary made for the exit.

The young man paused in middle of twisting of the door knob. He sent the crippled Rocket a bitter smile before saying, "To buy pokemon feed. You don't feed your pokemon very well, you know that? How do you expect us to stand a chance with starving pokemon?"

And with that, Gary shut the door behind him leaving a bemused Rocket member staring after him.

* * *

**A**sh laughed, but he had to force it out. There was really nothing funny about being told your long lost father was actually the leader of a world renowned criminal organization. But he had to make it funny somehow or otherwise he might fall apart.

"I don't believe you."

"You want proof?" said Andromeda coolly. "I'll let you in on a little secret..."

She leaned in, motioning him with a beckoning finger to do so too. Without consciously intending to, he did.

Andromeda continued, her voice low. "You see this? This is an engagement ring."

She flashed the diamond ring on her right hand his way. "John and I go _way_ back. He was, what some would call... my betrothed. And then he ran off with your little whore of a mother. I was willing to forgive him for his moment of indiscretion. But when he found out about you, he called the whole thing off."

Ash only scowled. "That's not proof. You could have easily made that all up, ring or not."

"Touché. How's about this juicy tidbit then? You wanna know the reason he sent those low life agents after you all these years? It sure as hell wasn't to catch your worthless little yellow rat. You and I both know that pikachu is just about as special as any other god damned pokemon on this planet... It was really to spy on his bastard son. And now... now he's going to pay me a sizeable ransom to ensure your safe return."

Ash felt the lump in his throat harden. He swallowed but it didn't go away. _Why was this making sense? It shouldn't. She was lying, wasn't she? She _had_ to be!_

"You look troubled. Did I strike a chord?" said Andromeda with a coy smile.

"None of that is proof!" shouted Ash, startled that he found himself shouting it.

"Then why don't you ask your mother? I'd _love_ to know why she decided to sleep with my fiancée."

Ash flushed a beat red. He stumbled over his words unable to do any better than flap his lips pointlessly. He pushed out of his chair, angrily knocking it aside as he attempted to put as much distance as he could between him and Andromeda. He only managed to just reach the corner- the electric handcuffs stretched and his arm to their limits.

He glared angrily at the cinderblock wall, blinking back tears. Andromeda only watched in amusement. It wasn't long before Ash broke the silence again with a small, "My mother did not sleep with that man."

"It's... kinda hard to deny with the proof standing in front of me," said Andromeda with a flourish wave in his direction. "You're seventeen now right? Got a girlfriend? Surely you know how the birds and the bees go."

"She didn't-"

"The facts are these," Andromeda interrupted sternly. She was standing now, making her way around the table towards where Ash stood- his back still to her. "Your mother was down on her luck. She was your age, give or take a few years. My fiancée went to comfort her against my wishes. You were born nine months to the day... _to the day_, that he visited her.

"You want to flower up your conception, go ahead. _Deceive_ yourself. But I know..." Andromeda grabbed Ash suddenly by the throat, pushing him harshly into the wall. He didn't even get the chance to shout. His arm twisted in protest- stretched too far. He tried to cry out but she covered his mouth with her other hand. She moved uncomfortably close, her fingernails digging into his throat. "You are the product of my darkest hour. And I'd like nothing more then to kill you right here and now," She removed her hand from his mouth to gently stroke the side of his face. "If only you didn't remind me of your father so."

Ash swallowed hard. Her tight grip on his throat still remained.

"He chose my mother over you," Ash offered a small mean smile. "You must not have been good enough."

The darkened expression on Andromeda's face only made Ash smile wider, "Aw. You look troubled. Did I strike a chord, bitch?"

Andromeda let go and then struck him across the face hard. She managed to knock him to the floor. He landed on his knees, touching his raw cheek with his unshackled hand. He drew his hand back, the fingertips stained red.

The guards were in the room much faster than Ash had expected. He tried to ignore the stinging in his face as two of them hauled him to his feet. In one swift movement, the third had unhitched his shackles and refastened them together again.

They made to haul him back out of the room before Andromeda interceded.

"I'm not done with him," she snapped.

Ash didn't look up when she approached. And when she grabbed his chin and forced his face up to hers, he squeezed his eyes shut.

"I could have killed you back in front of Mew's tank, ransom or not. And believe me, I was tempted," Andromeda said undaunted. "But I spared your life. So don't you dare forget it."

She let go of him roughly. But before they dragged him off, Ash was determined to have the last word.

"I never asked to be a hostage," he blurted out.

The guards paused. Andromeda did too, but only to laugh. "Well of course not. Hostages rarely get a choice in the matter."

"I meant," Ash started again. "I'm not my father's property. I don't care what you are attempting to barter me for, but I'm not to be bought. And certainly not by _him_."

"Well you are hardly in the position to negotiate..."

"Battle me."

Andromeda met Ash's hard gaze. Her lips lifted into a cruel smirk. "Battle you?"

"A pokemon battle. One on one. If I win, you let me and pikachu go."

"Well I _could_ do that. But what would I tell your father? I mean, he's expecting me to hand over his son."

"I don't care. Go ahead and lie. Take whatever he gives you."

Andromeda tapped her chin, looking expectantly between her stern looking guards as if they knew how to answer the tantalizing offer.

"Interesting. So even if I lose I can still get what I want. But of course, you must realize that there has to be something in this little deal for me," Andromeda touched his sore cheek carelessly. Ash flinched in pain but she didn't remove her hand.

"You see, lately we've been using pokemon to test the effects of pokemon attacks on humans. We already know fire at such and such temperature burns. The body can only take so many volts of electricity and so on and so forth... But psychic attacks," Ash could feel her breath on his face as she leaned in, stroking the cut along his cheek painfully. "Confusion. Nightmare. Curse... We know so little.

She turned, motioning to the guards with a backhand wave. They released Ash's arms suddenly, leaving Ash teetering uncertainly on the spot. Andromeda beckoned him back over to the table. Ash approached warily.

"We need fully documented permission to conduct any experiments on consenting humans," She continued, tapping on the table's glossy surface. Suddenly computer desktop windows maximized across the surface. She typed in a few numeral sequences before pulling virtual documents out onto the table's screen. They were waivers.

"Technical legalities," Andromeda shrugged. "Believe it or not, even we, on the surface, are still bound by the rules. No one in their right mind would willingly let us do this to them which is why we caught the closest thing to a humanoid pokemon we could find to act as a stand-in..."

She grabbed his handcuffed wrist and pulled him over the table. Ash had little chance to react. With one deft motion, she had his thumb pressed against the cool surface. A line of light surrounded his thumb before ebbing away as a soft female voice said out loud his full name, **"Identifying... Ashton Satoshi Ketchum registered in." **

Ash pulled his hand away hastily. The screen now focused on the bottom half of the documents. The place his signature was to go was highlighted and waiting.

"So, dear Ash... if you lose, you'll be taking the place of my mew," said Andromeda unhooking a small metallic pen from the underside of the table and then twisting between her long fingers. "As my new lab rat."

Ash felt his whole body go cold. This wasn't a smart bet. If he agreed to this, he'd surely be giving this woman a chance to torture him. Not that she couldn't already. But to actually legally torture him. Even if he managed to get of this hell hole, the police wouldn't be able to do anything to stop her- to punish her. She would own him. Own the rights to hurt, possibly even kill him as she saw fit.

He needed to get away from here. He had to make sure he got to Mewtwo before this wicked witch could. And he needed to rescue Pikachu.

"Are you still so sure you want to gamble with me, little boy?"

Ash mustered up his courage. This was the only way that he could think of to protect Pikachu and himself. He couldn't _not_ try. He'd just have to make sure he won.

"Yes," he said softly.

And yet what strange conviction had overtaken him. When was the last time he had battled to win? Not in the last few years. Not since his determination had gotten the best of somebody else.

But if history chose a repeat performance, he'd certainly shed no tears for this woman's sake.

Andromeda held out the pen. She watched, as Ash took it in his trembling fingers, wrists still handcuffed together, and clumsily signed his name. Ash dotted the i and crossed his t's feeling for all the world as if he had just carved his own name into his chest. Never before had his name ever looked more foreign to him. _Surely, that was someone else's name down there._

The leader of White Ice, minimized the document away leaving Ash staring at his own anxious reflection in the dark screen. He _had_ to win.

"Let's get you back your pikachu then, shall we?" said Andromeda with an unkind smile.

* * *

**S**he was sitting in one of the deep set window sills at the far side of his mansion like gym. Her legs curled up to her chest, dark brown hair loose around her face. As he crossed the corridor he became more and more painfully aware that she was still just as beautiful as he had always found her.

Giovanni stopped short of where Delia was. She looked up, her eyes still red from rubbing away the tears. The sun backlight her impassive expression.

"What do you want, John?" said Delia huskily.

And he couldn't think of a single word. So instead he closed his open mouth and tore his eyes from her face. She waited patiently for him to muster up the courage to say two words.

"I'm sorry."

When Giovanni dared to look at her, squinting through the glare of the afternoon sun, he was surprised to find that she looked surprised. Before she could word the question, he attempted to answer, "About Ash. I mean... he was here and I... I didn't protect him."

"Oh John," Delia sighed and turned her head away from him. "Don't apologize. I don't blame you."

"But I do. I mean- I blame myself," He came and knelt before her. "I keep thinking there was something I could have done... anticipated..."

"His safety wasn't your responsibility."

"It should be."

In the short pause, Giovanni clutched her hands in his own and searched her eyes. Delia returned his gaze sympathetically. "I know you didn't want me to be in his life but... surely being his father I had... some... small responsibility?"

His voice cracked hopefully. But Delia only shook her head. "John. We've already discussed this..."

"But is it really our choice to make. I mean... what does Ash think? Doesn't... Doesn't he _want_ to know who his father is?"

Delia flushed and pulled her hands out of his. "We are _not_ having this conversation."

She climbed out of the sill and made to walk away from him. But Giovanni caught her arm.

"Why not? Why not now?"

She didn't turn back to him. But her body tensed at his touch. As if he repulsed her. "Because _my_ son is currently being held for ransom, John."

Giovanni let go of her arm. They stood apart from one another. Delia looking straight ahead and the man, once known as John, at the floor.

"I still love you, Delia," he said, struggling not so much to say the words but to keep from shouting them. To keep himself contained when he wanted to throw himself at her. To keep her with him, next to him, against him like he once had her.

"I know," she said.

She walked away from him again and this time Giovanni couldn't find it in himself to follow her. So instead, he stood- trying not to fall to his knees.

"I'll find him," He said to her retreating form. "I'll do everything in my power. _Everything_ to find _your_ son, Delia."

Delia didn't look back. Because she was afraid that if she did, he might see her tears.

* * *

**T**he sun was bright on their backs. Oak climbed the grassy hill with some difficulty. It was one of many on the vast acreage he owned. Although they were giving him trouble in his aging years, he couldn't even dream of flattening the grounds out. The wildlife was flush and plentiful, which meant that research was making bounds and leaps here whereas in urban basements other scientists struggled to make ends meet.

But perhaps he was getting ahead of himself. Oak knew that the recent success of his pokemon encyclopedia (heavens and what to name it?) could easily be topped by any number of younger scientists more technological savvy than he. It was in the collection of this device that he'd truly prosper.

And for that to work, he need pokemon trainer connections. Those that could collect the data for him, without making him travel the countryside himself. But who ever heard of a pokemon trainer from the backwater town of Pallet? This was a town of agriculture and of course his laboratory. Known for their excellent dairy products and tomatoes but certainly not for aspiring trainers. The townsfolk were simply not that ambitious.

Yet... Oak corrected himself, eying his fair daughter that was waiting at the end of his destination. They weren't ambitious yet. It was in their children that he had a chance.

He was at his daughter's home now. It rested just on the outskirts of his property, a yellow house with a picket fence. Karen hated it, preferring to live in the city but for money and her children's sake she endured it.

Karen afforded her father a gentle air kiss on both cheeks as a greeting. She tucked her mother's fair locks behind her ears and hefted her newborn son into a more comfortable position against her chest. Oak couldn't help it. He tousled the sleeping boy's light colored hair playfully before asking his mother, "How is my grandson?"

"He's fine," said Karen gently. "He recently had a spill in the yard. Nothing serious but he cried himself out. About time for his nap anyway."

She sighed and blew the low hanging bangs out of her eyes. "I don't remember May being such a difficult child. Most of the time I can barely keep up with him."

"Raising a girl is different from raising a boy.

"And you would know how?" said his daughter sharply.

He tried to ignore how the remark stung. "Where's little May? And your husband?"

"Viridian. Shopping. They should be home by nightfall-" Karen paused and then pointed behind her father's shoulder. "Is that one of yours?"

Oak turned to see a large Tauros shuffling around the green lawn. He stomped and snorted nervously, flicking his dark eyes their way before trotting off again.

The Professor frowned. "Bruno jumped the gate again."

He looked back to his daughter briefly before bending down to carefully tighten the laces in his boots. "You better get indoors with that boy of yours. Let me know when your husband gets home. I'll need his help rounding Bruno up."

Karen made her way back through the small gate before pausing to say, "Be careful."

Then, in a whirl of her colorful skirt, she and her sleeping toddler made their way back towards the house. She was just about to grasp the doorknob when she heard the shriek of the Tauros.

Karen turned only just in time to catch her father running off. Obviously, the pokemon had found someone to charge. Worrying for her not yet returned daughter and husband's safety, Karen gently lay Gary on the front porch and rushed off after her father.

Karen jumped the gate awkwardly and had nearly caught up when her father suddenly stopped. On the downside the hill, the pokemon charged a young brunette woman picking some of her father's apple trees. She had dropped the basket, scattering the ground with apples but her face was remarkably calm. She stood very still, her eyes dead ahead at the approaching pokemon.

The Tauros had actually slowed in its charge, pulling back as if suddenly reigned. It nervously made its way around the woman, like a wary mouse to the trap, and settled on a few of the fallen apples to chew on.

"That woman," Karen breathed. "She's that one who works for you, right? Ditto or something?"

"Dido," said her father with an equal amount of awe.

They watched as the heavily pregnant woman, gently retrieved the fallen apples that were out of the pokemon's range. She was mere feet from the beast but seemed to paid it no mind. Her only focus seemed to be for the fallen fruit.

"Who is she?"

For a moment, her father didn't seem to hear her. Then at last, he said in a low voice, "The Phoenician form of her name means wanderer. Oh tragic queen of Carthage. I know not her past nor future."

Karen smiled the smallest of smiles. "We will need to keep an eye on her, I think."

Her response surprised Oak. He glanced briefly back at his daughter before turning his attention back to the woman below.

"Yes. I suppose so..." After a moment, Oak decidedly continued, "And her son too."

* * *

To Be Continued...  
Please Read and Review!

Dido is pronounced Die-doe. The name is from the Aeneid, the ill-fated queen who is forced by the Gods to fall in love with the epic's hero Aeneas and eventually commits suicide when Aeneas leaves her.

So there is your little bit of Greek and Roman Myth for the day.

And yes, I picked that name on purpose. Do you know who the mystery woman is yet?

Thanks to those who've kept up with me to this point. And to those who reviewed last chapter, Roses n' Horses, smileyaili, Rastanton94, Airess Byrd, rabidcatking, Tatsu-no-Houou, Milotic, Kyoumi, Dreamlight, Pikajenn, YumeTakato, DanK, Marie Ravenclaw, Crysania Fay, abei-vofn-avjb, Axletia Rosonetis, RikuLuvr, and markrock18. I thank you all for being so patient with me. I know I take awhile with each chapter.

Next chapter, Ash and Andromeda face off against one another.

Leave a review and please stay tuned!


	16. Misbegotten

**The Blind Alley**

**Disclaimers**: If I owned Pokemon, you would know it.

**AN://** I'm always sorry for the wait between chapters. But at least you guys all have something to look forward to, right?

Oh and if you guys know any good pokemon stories that you want to recommend me, I'd really appreciate it. I get a lot of inspiration from fanfics when I can find enjoyable ones.

If I like it a bunch, I'll probably namedrop it in the author notes for everyone else too. :)

**Last Time On TBA:**

Conviction, a gamble, unrequited feelings, and a woman named Dido.

Quote: "Battle me."

* * *

  
**Chapter Sixteen:** Misbegotten

All the words that I come up with  
They're like gasoline on flames  
There's no excuse, no explanation  
Believe me if I could undo what I did wrong  
I'd give away all that I own.  
-Daughtry

**"B**attle me," he said.

The wind was blowing lightly from the west, stirring the tall grass around them and tossing Ash's hair. The sky looked about ready release a downpour. The calm before the storm. As if the whole world was holding its breath.

Ash paused and absentmindedly scratched his nose. He turned back to the young blue haired boy in front.

"Now?" Ash offered teasingly.

William smiled. Since he first started following him till he decided to go off on his own three months ago- it had only been half a year, but Ash could tell. This wasn't the same child who Ash had been practically babysitting. William had become strong.

William enlarged a pokeball in his left hand and smirked.

"Now."

* * *

  
**T**he room was quite grand. It had huge arched ceilings with a grandiose sky light that seemed to open up to a snow caked mountainside. In the center was a giant sandpit sectioned off with clearly marked boundaries. It was the perfect setting for down and dirty pokemon battling. Maybe Ash would have appreciated it a bit more if he weren't being led here by gunpoint.

Ash was pushed from the hard floor and into the sand so roughly that he nearly tripped. He glared unappreciatively at his aggressor, not at all surprised that it was another bleach white haired guard. Was every member of this crew a blonde? Maybe it was some sort of requirement.

_Don't give a shit about the welfare of pokemon. Oh and must be a blonde._ Ash spared a small smile at the thought.

He turned his head, gently touching his raw cheek as he did. It still throbbed from where the bitch had scratched him. But at least the blood had dried now. Ash hadn't a mirror to check but he hoped the wound wouldn't scar.

And there she was. Andromeda stood on the opposite side of the room, her arms across her voluminous chest. She was wearing yet another outfit. It was a two piece, skintight black tank and a slick black shorts and dress ensemble. A battle outfit? Ash was starting to wonder if the woman needed to have an outfit for every occasion like one of the sensational sisters.

But thinking about Misty's sisters only made him think of Misty. _Was she okay? Had she made it out of the gym alright? _And thinking of Misty hurt so he quickly pushed such thoughts from his head.

_Focus on the moment, Ash_, he scolded himself.

Andromeda stepped barefoot into the sandy court. Ash couldn't help but feel his chest tighten as she stepped onto the field. If his life weren't in danger maybe he'd actually be enjoying himself a bit more. Ash's hand instinctively went for his belt but came back empty handed. That's right... he left his pokemon in the Viridian City Gym. And this witch had his Pikachu.

She swung back and released something into the air. It captured the gleam of the florescent lights as it sailed in Ash's direction. He only just caught it before it hit his face. The chain wrapped around his wrist. In the small of his palm was pikachu's flatten pokeball. Ash didn't bother hesitating to release his pokemon from its containment- half afraid that his pokemon wasn't really back in his possession at all.

Out of the red light materialized the all too familiar figure. Ash nearly collapsed in relief.

"_Pika pi!"_ his pikachu exclaimed. Its gaze focused immediately on Ash's cheek, concern filling its eyes. Ash couldn't hold back any longer. He scooped up Pikachu, perhaps a bit too eagerly. The pokemon could barely breathe when Ash happily hugged him to his chest.

"Oh thank God. I was so worried!"

"_Pika pi! I can't breathe!" _

"I thought they had killed you, little buddy!" Ash spoke through the tears that where slipping down his face. They splashed against the mouse's nose. Pikachu stopped trying to pry himself free and sympathetically let his master cradle him. Sometimes it was best to just let the humans have a moment. They were quite emotional creatures... Not that Pikachu himself wasn't swept up by his emotions from time to time.

Pikachu gently pat his master's good cheek and smiled. _"I'm glad you're okay too, Pika pi." _

They had almost forgotten that they had an audience, "D'awww. That's so sweet."

Ash instantly lessened his grip on Pikachu. The pokemon carefully climbed its way up onto Ash's shoulder frowning in disapproval at the evil human across from them. Andromeda was not moved by their glares.

She waved away fake tears, "I just love it in movies when a boy is reunited with his pokemon. But... I do believe I've seen the ending of this one."

She pointed an imaginary gun at the pikachu and drew back her hand sounding off a snide "bang". Ash protectively turned his shoulder, putting himself between Andromeda and his pokemon.

"I will so enjoy breaking you, boy," Andromeda sneered.

Ash smirked with is usual pre-battle cockiness. "The battle hasn't even started yet, Andromeda. We won't know until we try."

"Cute," She slipped some long dark gloves over her hands. "Steal that from an after-school sitcom, did you?"

As she stretched into the gloves, Ash realized that there seemed to be wires poking out of them. They slid over her arms like bundles of silver veins before dipping down to the floor. Ash's eyes trailed the many wires to cloaked cylinders in the far back of the room. And for the life of him, Ash had no idea what these were for. Was she going to try to summon a pokemon that she needed protection from?

Gary's depiction of the _evil_ pokemon passed through his thoughts. Surely Andromeda didn't have something of that sort on her.

_She had a legendary mew,_ Ash reminded himself sinking carefully into a ready position. _Don't put anything pass her._

"Are you ready?" Andromeda said clenching her hand into a hard fist. "Come at me with everything you have."

* * *

**T**he Ampharos came at Bulbasaur almost as soon as Ash had released him from his pokeball. It was only Bulbasaur's quick maneuvering- using his vines as extra limbs that tossed him out of range. The punch sliced the air just inches from the pokemon's wandering vine, crackling the air with electric power.

William was ruthless. Ash was already starting to break a sweat. He ran alongside their makeshift battle field, trying to keep up with his pokemon. There were no boundaries. Pure endurance would have to win out here.

The tall grass not only observed his vision but also sliced at his unprotected arms. He rubbed the thin irritating cuts while shouting orders to his pokemon.

Bulbasaur was the second to the field. Butterfree had made quick work the younger trainer's large Ursaring but was no match for the power of Ampharos' thunder punch. He had hoped that the type advantage would place the battle back in his favor. But even with the elements against him, this pokemon was fierce.

Ash threw out his fist despite himself. "Leech seed!"

"_Got it, Master,"_ frowned the Bulbasaur while raising himself onto his front legs.

When the Ampharos charged forward, Bulbasaur spat a small golden seed from its bulb. The seed hit the opposing pokemon's face and instantly erupted into a hundred tiny vines that wrapped around the pokemon's face and neck. The pokemon fell back, pulling at the vines around its face. The vine constricted and sparked with Ampharos' stolen energy.

"_My face. It stings! It stings, Master William!" _Ampharos cried.

"Leech seed," said William with a calm smile. "Poison powder would have been more effective. The little power you'll be able to take from Ampharos won't help you."

Ash shook his finger back and forth at the younger trainer. "Tsk tsk," he said. "You underestimate my pokemon's abilities."

"And you underestimate mine," said William. "Annie focus blast!"

Ampharos drew back its hands from the vines, drawing the stolen energy the best it could into a orb of burning blue light in its hands. Bulbasaur stumbled back, its red eyes wide.

"_Master..."_ It began.

"Bulbasaur! Get out of the way!"

* * *

  
**A**sh hadn't even the time to scream. A sudden energy ripped him away from his pikachu. He flew across the sandy lot and against the opposite wall. He hung for just a moment before collapsing to his knees, coughing. Wearily he looked up to where Pikachu had fallen- dug deep in the sandy arena.

Just what the hell was that? Ash hadn't even seen a pokemon. It just came- completely without warning. As if Andromeda herself had fired it off. Was it possible... a focus blast from a human being?

Ash struggled clumsily to his feet. His opponent hadn't moved from her position. Ash pointed at her- somewhat foolishly, he realized. "Wh... where was your pokemon?"

She smiled and touched her gloved hands to her breast. "I am my own pokemon."

"That's impossible," Ash wheezed.

Pikachu was coming to. It shook itself free from the sand, glancing first in his master's direction to make sure he was okay before turning back into its fighting stance against the abomination of a human female. Arched back and teeth bared, Pikachu made sure that he wouldn't underestimate the woman this time.

"_Pika pi. Stay where you are. I don't mind attacking this bitch alone." _

"No way, Pikachu. We're in this together," Ash responded a bit too quickly.

Pikachu paused, and gave his master a sidelong look. _"Did you just..."_

"It's not impossible," said Andromeda, cutting the pokemon off. And with a snap of her fingers, the nearby guards went to the covered cylinders and removed the veils.

Ash and Pikachu staggered at the sight. Four different pokemon each in their own water filled tank, wired up to the gloves fastened over Andromeda's wrist.

There was a Chikorita suction cupped by the many different devices. A Wartortle, under similar circumstances, was the only one without an oxygen mask under the water. Teddiursa had its paws incased in probing needles. And Growlithe cruelly had a tube thrust down its throat, just like Wartortle. All of them unconscious. All of them looking as though they were having painful dreams.

"What the hell is this?" Ash hissed angrily.

Andromeda waved her hands appreciatively in the direction of the tanks. "This? Why this is just the future of pokemon battles, Ash Ketchum."

* * *

  
**H**e ran to the left side of the field his pikachu falling in place ahead of him. There had been several change outs on his opponent's side now. Walrein and Ampharos were out of commission much to Ash's relief. Bulbasaur had half its health down. And he still had four perfectly healthy pokemon left in his arsenal.

William's deadly Skarmory crowed and spread its wings a sound that resembled the sound of a butcher sliding knives against each other. It had been easy with the type advantage for Pikachu to make quick work of the previous water pokemon. Things were different when faced with a steel type.

It crouched and glared at Ash's Pikachu with a far from kind look in its eyes. _"A rat. A rat. How kind of master to let me slice you up. If we met outside of battle, I'd gobble you up, honey." _

"_I'm not a rat,"_ snapped Pikachu. "_And I'm not your honey."_

"_Of course not. But I'd bet you'd taste good with some."_

Pikachu's cheeks sparked in warning. But the steel type pokemon was far from intimidated. Instead it stalked forward. Ash unconsciously stepped back, his pokemon doing the same.

"Air slash!" William commanded.

Ash and Pikachu broke apart, the air cutting between them. Ash dug his heels back to avoid being knocked over by the strong gust of wind.

"Thunderbolt!"

_"Take this!"_ Pikachu screeched releasing several volts of energy at his opponent. The volts just glanced off the sides of the bird, temporarily dazing it. Enough time for Ash to shout out the second attack.

"Iron tail!"

Pikachu's tail cracked over the metal skin, gonging in time with the crack of thunder.

And down came the curtain of rain.

* * *

  
**H**e stumbled on the sand, narrowly avoiding an water gun attack. It still sprayed him in its passing- real water! It dripped from his bangs and into his face. How was it possible for a water gun to becoming from a human?

Ash had to suppose that such attacks had once belonged to the poor pokemon captured in the tank. Wartortle convulsed in pain as Andromeda shot the water from her hands like cannons.

How could any human be this cruel?

_And yet this is the woman I sold my soul to... _Ash realized with sudden dread.

Pikachu came up on his other side, slightly winded. They had spent most of their time trying to avoid the bizarre onslaught of random attacks, Ash realized. Perhaps it was time they devised a counter attack.

"Pikachu Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu arched back and released a volley of energy towards the woman. But with her opposite hand she formed a barrier. Protect perhaps? Teddiursa was writhing inside its tank. Ash watched in astonishment as the attack just glanced off her opened palm. This... this was completely unreal.

She wasn't executing any energy to attack. Attacking her directly wouldn't necessarily stop the attacks from coming... if they even managed to get a hit.

"Pikachu... the wires!"

But Pikachu was way ahead of Ash. It lunged, latching its teeth around the silver wires. But no matter how hard it gnawed, the wires wouldn't break. Andromeda laughed her shrill laugh and tossed another focus blast in pikachu's direction. It only just dodged it, the leftover energy tossing Pikachu over the sandy lot.

Ash ran to catch up to where his Pikachu had fallen. "Nothing's working," He hissed. "This is freakin' unreal. Humans aren't supposed to be able to do this!"

Pikachu looked expectantly up at its master. _"Pika pi?" _

He took a deep breath and tried to think things through. No use having a panic attack now. Pikachu depended on him. He depended on himself too. If he lost it now then there was no hope to getting out of here.

Maybe there was a way to stop her. She was relying on pokemon for her power... in some fashion. If they could... somehow... _remove_ the pokemon from the picture... then theoretically she _should_ be powerless again.

"Pikachu," Ash said in a low voice. "There's the only way to stop her from using her abilities. Those pokemon..."

_"I understand. Leave it to me." _

"I'll distract Andromeda," And at Pikachu's startled expression, he added. "She'll catch on to our plans easily if I don't. Just focus on freeing those pokemon. I'll keep her eyes on me."

_"But Pika pi..." _

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine... I always am."

* * *

  
**P**ikachu came reluctantly back to Ash's side when it was recalled. It thought it had been handling itself fairly well against the fire pokemon, Houndoom. Especially in this weather. At least far better than it had faired against Skarmony which had taken nearly all its energy to convince William to switch out.

But then again, Ash was always a sucker for type advantages. Electric and fire battles made Ash nervous ever since he practice trained Pikachu against Charizard. It was bad enough dealing with one lethal element. Two colliding on the field was nerve wracking for a human, Pikachu supposed. After all, humans weren't used to this kind of power.

Ash relinquished Squirtle to the field. It appeared with its usual flamboyant twirl and salute to Ash, (that which Ash always playfully returned).

"_Oooooh. A puppy dog," _Squirtle said with mock surprise, once it realized what it was facing.

Houndoom snarled, its fanged teeth dripping of thin saliva ropes. _"Watch yourself, water breather. You don't need to make me even less a fan of your kind."_

"_Ewwww... say it don't spray it!" _

"_Do you want me to rip into your throat, water breather?" _

Squirtle didn't respond. Instead he spanked the bottom of his shell and grinned.

Houndoom lunged without his master's command. And likewise, Squirtle instantly retreated into its shell.

"_Come out of there coward!" _Houndoom barked loudly.

"_Say please!" _

"Squirtle, hydro pump!"

"_Oops. Too late," _came the bodiless voice from the shell.

Houndoom leapt back just as the water shot out from the holes in Squirtle's shell. It only narrowly avoided a direct hit.

"Waterfall!"

The turtle flipped its shell onto its side, before sticking out arms and kicking itself upwards into the Houndoom's jaw. Then came the torrent of water, raising it up and knocking the hell dog onto its back- reeling in pain.

Squirtle caught itself neatly on its hind legs and posed. _"Piece of cake!" _

Pikachu only shook its head. _"I could have done that easily, Pika pi. And I wouldn't have been such a snot about it."_

William returned Houndoom with a soft smile. His hair was wet, the bangs had fallen forward and were hiding his dark eyes from his rival. "I've only got one pokemon left, Ash."

Ash nodded in quiet understanding. He returned Squirtle in a flash of red light and pulled the last pokeball off his belt. The excitement was making him tremble. The pokeball slid against his wet fingertips.

"Well then," Ash said. "Let's make this last one count."

"No holding back now."

"I don't plan to."

And in one swift motion, Ash released Charizard onto the field. Even in the downpour, Charizard's tail blazed like a beacon.

William tossed his own pokeball up and down in his hand.

"This is it then," He smiled before catching the ball in his waiting hand and thrusting it out in front of himself. The look in his eyes were so fierce that even Ash was given pause.

"I'm ready," he said.

* * *

  
**T**here were four buttons on Andromeda's glove. Ash watched carefully as the lights transferred between each one. She'd use an attack from one pokemon and then move on to the next. The sequence was pretty erratic. Ash supposed that even Andromeda wasn't going to be aware what sort of attack would come out. And there were probably only so much these pokemon could take at one time.

It was an imperfect device after all.

If he could just anticipate what type of attack would be used at what time, he'd have a better chance.

Fire, Normal, Water, and Grass seemed to be the pattern. But even so, there seemed to be overrides. Andromeda could easily change which attack she was using by clicking those colored buttons.

Ash ran to the far side while Pikachu scrambled towards the tanks. Andromeda's attention wavered between the two of them. Feeling a sudden surge of daring, Ash decided, to hell with caution. He needed to make sure that Pikachu got its shot.

He charged Andromeda. Her attention was quickly focused entirely on him.

The punch he aimed for her face missed her entirely. Instead she caught him hard in the stomach. Ash buckled over her arm and Andromeda laughed as she dropped him to his knees, "Really?"

Pikachu released a volley of electricity at the standing guards. A few scattered but the nearest were swallowed up in the explosion. Growlithe and Squirtle's tank split open tossing the unconscious pokemon to the floor alongside the few remaining paralyzed guards.

Andromeda whirled about giving Ash just enough time to climb to his feet. He lunged and latched himself onto her arm. The woman shrieked and pulled back. Ash only just managed to duck about the hot flames that shot from her hands like a flame thrower. Then slowly the flames sputtered dead. The red and blue lights on her glove had blinked out.

Pikachu leapt at the next tank with its glowing tail, cracking it open like an egg. From the tumble of wires out spilled Chikorita. So went the green light. Ash couldn't hold onto Andromeda any longer. She suddenly pulled him forward and then back- tossing him onto the soft sand. Ash hadn't even the time to register his new change of position when Andromeda fell over him and pierced into his shoulder.

For a moment, Ash hadn't even realized what had happened. The white hot pain sheering from his shoulder was more than his mind could take. He screamed. Through his agony, Ash was only just able to recognize the glove that had hardened and encased her hand into some sort of dagger. He screamed louder than he thought he could, harder and harder as Andromeda twisted the blade.

_Teddiursa's attack_, some part of Ash's brain realized. _Fury swipes? No... perhaps a slash attack? _

Ash kicked out pointlessly, trying to get the woman off him. But it only seemed to make the pain worse.

Pikachu skidded to a halt. Its eyes flickered between the Teddiursa withering with pain in the water tank and his master who was pinned to the floor by Andromeda. He took a few steps in the direction of his master when Ash's voice cried out.

"No! Free the last one Pikachu!" He shrieked out again, breathlessly when Andromeda dug the blade deeper. He clutched onto Andromeda's hand, trying futilely to hold her back. "Her attacks will stop! You have to free the last one!"

Pikachu hesitated. It turned back to the tank, watching as the Teddiursa's paws bled into the water. It convulsed not unlike his master on the floor. "_But- Pika pi._.."

"You're very valiant," said Andromeda coolly, pulling the blade out of his shoulder at last. Ash gasped and clutched his wound- the blood squeezing out between his fingers. Andromeda made herself more comfortable- straddling over chest as she pressed the side of the warm blade against his throat. With a coy smile, she looked expectantly towards Ash's horrified Pikachu.

"Go ahead, little yellow rat. Go ahead and free the Teddiursa. You'll be free to go. But the power will remain in this device just long enough for me to slit your master's throat. So go ahead, if you dare."

Ash swallowed hard, "She won't kill me. Pikachu, please. Free Teddiursa!"

Andromeda applied just enough pressure that the point of the blade stole just a few drops of blood from Ash's throat. Her cruel smile spoke all of her intentions.

Pikachu trembled, frozen on the spot. _"Pika pi... I can't... Please don't ask me to..."_

"Pikachu! I order you to free Teddiursa! Now!" Ash shouted, his voice cracking, as if he was just as unsure.

Ash's eyes met with that of his pokemon.

Slowly and reluctantly Pikachu stood back on its haunches and rose its paws. Pikachu clasped his paws together before taking the top paw off and tossing the open five hand at his face.

_This will backfire on us_, Pikachu signed through his tears.

Ash's vision was sliding out of focus. He blinked blearily and then squeezed his eyes tightly shut.

* * *

  
_**"P**__ika pi,"_ Pikachu flattened itself against Ash's shoulder, gently applying pressure to its grip. _"Don't use Charizard."_

The large orange dragon twisted its head in the mouse's direction. It exposed its large teeth in a sort of fanged smile.

_"Afraid of me, Little bit?" _

Pikachu squeezed Ash's shoulder tighter. He hated that nickname. _Little bit._ Charizard referred to everyone as little something. It was quite irritating.

Pikachu leaned closer to its master's ear to say, _"You must know he hasn't been right since that time..."_

All Ash heard was the usual twitter between his pokemon. He looked questioningly at the pokemon on his shoulder. And Pikachu let out a sigh before resorting to its only and limited communication method. It held its small paw up to the top of his head and crunched its three fingers three times with an angry look on its face before pointing towards Chairzard. _He's the devil._

The fire pokemon snorted in response, all too aware of what Pikachu had just called him.

_"I do as the Little one asks me. Nothing more," _huffed Charizard.

"Don't be silly, Pikachu," Ash added gently scratching the yellow mouse behind its ears. "Charizard's fine. And besides," He glanced towards his opponent with a knowing smile on his face. "Will told me not to hold back."

Again, Pikachu rose his hands, slowly rolling the small fingers down until catching it in his waiting paw. _I'm not crazy about this._

The Ivysaur, that William had summoned, glanced nervously from the sky to that his fire breathing opponent. The rain felt wonderful on its green skin, slick and clean. But the idea of facing something that breathed hot- horrible hot fire, did not put the pokemon in a good mood.

"Are you sure you want to pit a fire pokemon against me?" said William smugly. "We have the element of weather on our side."

As if to demonstrate his point, William rose his hands up catch the heavy drops that splashed against his fingertips. Ash only shook his head in response. "Little rain never killed anybody."

The Ivysaur nervously glanced back at its master. _"Iunno, Willy. I don't have such a good feeling about this. That's a mighty big fire breathing lizard thing there." _

"Charizard," Ash said. He didn't finish. Only nodded, as if encouraging the pokemon to go ahead with whatever it wanted to do. As if he had simply unbuckled the leash.

_"As you wish, Little one,"_ Charizard inhaled before shooting a powerful flamethrower right above the Ivysaur's head. It streamed powerfully through the rain, as if it weren't falling at all. In fact, the rain drops dried up on impact. The effect was enough to frighten both master and pokemon.

The grass pokemon cowered back in terror. _"That's a flamethrower! That's definitely a flamethrower! Holy shit!"_

William pushed back his wet bangs and smiled incredulously. He shook his head and laughed, "Wow that's fantastic, Ash. You're every bit as powerful as I knew you would be."

"And you've gotten better yourself."

"Thanks. But I haven't resigned to defeat yet," said William to Ash's sympathetic glance. "I hope you mean what you said. No holding back!"

"Well if you're lucky, maybe I'll show you Charizard's signature move," said Ash. Pikachu frowned but Ash didn't even feel its grip tighten.

William looked appreciatively at the powerful beast in front of him. It flashed its flaming tail and exposed its rows of sharp teeth at him- which could have possibly been a smile if Charizards had ever been known for their tact.

Even if his Ivysaur hadn't shared his master's love of danger- the excitement in Ash was mirrored in William's own eyes.

"I certainly hope so!" he exclaimed cheerfully.

* * *

  
**A**sh hated that sign. He cringed at the sight of it. Perhaps because of what it reminded him of. A giant crater in the in an explosion that he had caused. He used that sign to explain to Pikachu why he had decided to go back home. Why he decided to stop training. To stop everything and just give up. It was sign of hopelessness.

And luck had been the only reason that Ash didn't make it back home or stay true to his word of giving up on pokemon training. Ash closed his eyes, not bearing to look as Pikachu slowly crawled over.

Andromeda callously removed the chain from around Ash's wrist and recalled Pikachu. It didn't even bother getting out of the way of the red capture light. Ash watched, feeling very much like someone punched a stone hard fist into his gut, as his pokemon disappeared in front of his eyes.

Andromeda drew back the blade and climbed to her feet. She didn't even glance back at him. And Ash didn't bother climbing to his feet. He felt like crying. _What now? What _now? His chest constricted as he felt someone drag him up by his arms. The wound in his shoulder was still throbbing. More guards. This time, one of them was the grinning Clark. Obviously he had been enjoying the battle from wherever he had been watching it.

Ash struggled between Clark's and the other unknown guard's grip but to no avail. Andromeda already had his pokemon. And he made a deal.

Maybe they'd kindly let him bleed to death before he had to abide to the terms his foolish bet.

She led them in silence to the end of the battle room. Ash felt ridiculous, caked in sand and blood and dragged about by his armpits. It wasn't until they reached the doorway, where a new row of identically dressed guards waited that she even spoke.

"I hope you realize, Mr. Ketchum." She turned, her lips in a tight smile. "It didn't matter if you won or lost. I'm not stupid enough to let something so valuable slip away from me. Especially something I've been looking for, for so long."

He tried to pull himself free. To attack? Perhaps. Ash didn't give it much thought. And it didn't matter in the long run. The guards held him fast and Andromeda was only amused by his struggle.

"Bitch," Ash snarled. Andromeda ignored him.

"Clean him up. And call in Melanie," She said to the guards holding him before addressing Ash alone. "You'll be serving my purposes until the ransom is paid. And once it is, well- I don't like my prisoners to harbor any disillusions about their imprisonment. Let's just say... you'll be happy that I'll be putting you out of your misery at that point."

She made a delicate flourish over to the destroyed tanks and fallen pokemon. "If only I could stick you in one of those, then all my problems would be solved."

Then Andromeda waved them past. The guards heaved the reluctant Ash forward. He was just able to glimpse Andromeda tossing his Pikachu's pokeball into Lewis' hand with a single detached order.

"Get rid of it."

* * *

  
**A**sh remembered giving the order. And the intensive heat in the air as Charizard charged his own beam to match that of Ivysaur's fantastically prepared solar beam. To use lightening as another light source, brilliant! William was a regular Pokemon training genius! But Ash had the powers of a forbidden move in his hands. Surely, he'd be able to match that of a makeshift solar beam.

Lots of light and a scream... did that come from his own mouth? He wasn't sure. It seemed to come outside himself but his mouth _was _open. To think that the move was _this_ powerful. Perhaps he should have tested it out... no- it would be enough. Enough for this.

But did he win? Ash couldn't remember. He squinted open his eyes, blinking past the glare of the sun. Was that the sun or was it Charizard? He glowed so brightly that Ash had gotten them confused. And now, no- that was definitely the actual sun. Ash covered his eyes with the back side of his hand.

And even that small motion sent waves of pain through his whole body. He felt so tired... and his skin felt like sandpaper. Ash cringed and more carefully this time, craned his head to see where he was.

The ground beneath him was remarkably dry. It flaked between his fingers. _But hadn't it been raining?_

Ash rose himself a little higher, not seeing any grass at all. No, instead he saw that he was in what appeared to be a desert wasteland. Except he was on a slope, nestled in what appeared to be a giant crater- at least the size of his own house. It just didn't make any sense. How did he get here? Hopefully not by magical tornado...

And then, Ash felt his insides freeze up. It was suddenly so very hard to breathe. Fire danced along the edges of the crater just out of reach. Could it be? Was this Charizard's attack?

Ash tried to climb to his feet too quickly. He found himself quickly subdued by a plight of dizziness. He collapsed to his knees, cringing at how absolutely raw he felt in his skin. As if he had been cooked in a vat of boiling water. He felt a gentle paw on his hand and cringed.

"_Pika pi. Don't move. You're hurt."_

Ash looked down, surprised to see that Pikachu itself hadn't faired any better. It too had suffered many burns across its tiny little body. Its fur was marred and tattered. It pained itself even to stop Ash from trying to climb to his feet. And seeing his favorite pokemon in this state only seemed to bring Ash to the verge of tears.

"Oh my God, Pikachu-" Ash began huskily. His voice came out in a rasp. And it hurt to swallow. Dehydrated too? Perhaps. On top of everything else, Ash wouldn't be that surprised.

Ash almost hadn't noticed the large pokemon that had curled itself around the two of them. Charizard's expression was unreadable. It merely nudged Ash back down into a more reclined position.

_"Don't move yet, Little one. Help is on the way."_

Ash could barely keep his panic contained. He looked blearily over the defaced landscape looking for a sign- any sign of the young blue haired trainer or the Ivysaur that he had been fighting only hours before.

He was strangely unsurprised to find that they were the only ones there. Somehow, somewhere deep inside- he had already realized what he had done.

"William," Ash called weakly. "William! Hey Will!"

But only the rush of the wind over the top of the crater answered him. Gently Charizard pressed the lower half of tail to Ash's chest to knock him back into the dirt.

_"Stop. Stop shouting." _

_"He can't understand us, Charizard."_

"William! William, please!"

_"Stop it. He's not there..." _

"Oh my god. Oh... Oh my god..." Ash sputtered, trembling as he tried not to realize what had happened. What he had done...

He could hear thrump thrump of the emergency helicopter blades from far off. And the whirl of sirens. They were coming for him.

But they'd find nothing of William.

* * *

To Be Continued...  
Please Read and Review!

There's some answers for you. Not all of them, but some. Hope you'll stay tuned for the rest.

Little bit shorter of an update. Sorry about that. I anticipated this being longer but I guess it just didn't happen.

And yes, those were actual signs from American Sign Language. Or at least my poor attempt to describe what they look like (FYI... I wanted to be an interpreter once upon a time).

I'd like to thank those who reviewed last time, LehCar702, BluFox15, Crysania Fay, Dreamlight, Milotic, Horselvr4evr123, Kyoumi, RikuLuvr, Axletia Rosonetis, Mystfit, and YumeTakato.

Next chapter, Giovanni receives the rendezvous for the ransom exchange. And Ash's torture begins.

Please leave a review, and stay tuned, of course!


	17. Slipping

**The Blind Alley**

**Disclaimers**: If I owned Pokemon, you would know it.

**AN://** Not much to say other than I hope you all bear with the flashbacks. I know they can be confusing. I've been trying to be careful about how I insert them so that they don't cause TOO much confusion at least.

I rewrote Misty's goodbye at the end of the Johto region too, which comes up in this chapter.

And as I said in the first chapter, the events of the movie _Mewtwo_ _Returns_, **did not** occur in this fanfiction.

**Last Time On TBA:**

Pokemon battles, strange device, forbidden moves, and a loser.

Quote: "...Why this is just the future of pokemon battles, Ash Ketchum."

* * *

**Chapter Seventeen: **Slipping

Even the people who never frown  
Eventually break down  
-Linkin Park

**A**sh was in the Indigo League tournament finals again. It was really no sweat the second time around. With pokemon alongside his level of skill, his opponents practically laid themselves down in the arena in front of him. This instance was no different.

Ash shared a smug smirk, mirroring the expression on his own pokemon's face. Charizard stretched out its wings to their full span, an intimidation factor that never failed. Their opponent's Venusaur took a hesitant step backwards.

"Fireblast Charizard!" shouted Ash thrusting his hand down in a karate chop motion towards the opposing pokemon.

Charizard inhaled, swung its head back and released a volley of fire at the dinosaur pokemon. Impressive. The flames never wavered. They engulfed its target whole.

The faceless trainer shouted out their pokemon's name.

_"Bruteroot!" _

Ash himself was never prone to naming his pokemon. He felt as though their inherent species' name was enough to go by. After all, a name was a method of control. And Ash preferred to think of his pokemon as teammates, not property.

But that name. It was simple and yet- why did that name sound so familiar? Even the voice. The tone- that hint of distress. Had he fought with his trainer before?

The flames died but the glow remained. It encased the entire pokemon's body in light. The audience's roar dulled into a hush. Even the announcer seemed stunned. His breath coming in sharp over the microphone as he gasped.

**"The pokemon is de... de-evolving!" **

Slowly but surely the light shrunk and with it, the pokemon. Until it was nearly half its size and stature. The flower on its back withered until it was back into its pre-bloomed state. Large red eyes blinking, the newly born Ivysaur looked Ash's way.

Ash took a hesitant step back, his back gracing the railing of the trainer's box, "...The hell?"

Sure, it was great to get an occasional advantage but this was just plain weird. Whoever heard of pokemon de-evolving?

Charizard took a heavy step forward. But Ash held out his hand.

"Just wait a second, Charizard."

**"The green trainer has halted his pokemon's attack. Will the red trainer use this hesitation to his advantage?" **

Ash looked to the opposing box. The trainer didn't seem overly concerned with his pokemon's change. Instead he was smiling, his face shadowed by the brim of this year's pokemon league cap, a stunning black and gold. Ash himself had once donned one of similar design, not too many years ago- when he first tried to tackle the league.

In fact, the kid didn't look that old at all to Ash. Surely, he only just captured a license little less than a year ago?

"Will you do it, Ash?" The trainer suddenly said.

His voice surprisingly strong and clear without raising his voice. Ash could hear him well even though his opponent was across a field. The boy then lifted the brim of his hat, exposing his face to the shower of light pouring from the stadium lighting.

Ash's eyes widened in horror.

"Will you kill me again, Ash Ketchum?" said William.

Ash fell back and over the railing. He fell out of the trainer's box, that had before had only been a few feet off the ground, now seemed to be an eternal fall. The stadium was a whirl of noise and color. His head hurt. He gripped his head, digging his fingers through his hair- nails into scalp, trying to stop the noise. The screaming. The burning light that was scalding his skin. And then just as suddenly as it came it stopped.

The stadium was empty. In fact, it didn't much resemble the Indigo League Stadium at all. He was alone facing an empty opponent box, the boundaries only chalked in and the towers gone. The looming skies overheard made the overall environment fairly uninviting.

Head still pounding, Ash took a dizzy step forward only stopped by a whistling sound near his ear. He turned his head just in time to see a large mass of energy shooting his way.

Ash only had time to cover his face with his arms. His scream was absorbed by the explosion. Ash stumbled back, expecting to be carried away recoil. But nothing hit. He heard the explosion. It tore at his eardrums. But there was no pain.

Ash peeked through his arms startled to see someone standing over him- blocking him from the blast. William? No, Ash realized lowering his arms. Although he was young... just as young as William had been. Dark hair, dark eyes, the blast frozen at his fingertips, in the midst of tearing at his back... and that stupid red and white baseball cap.

His dark eyes were filled with naive notions, some he'd eventually let go of in a few years. Some he'd be too afraid to let go of. There was also a kind of knowing- a knowing that Ash no longer had.

Ash knelt, looking up at his younger self in awe.

"Stupid," Younger Ash said through gritted teeth. "Hurry up and remember."

"R-remember what?"

His younger self rolled his eyes. "Just wake the hell up."

* * *

**Present **

**H**e was laying down, face first into a stark and uncomfortable pillow. Groaning, Ash rose his head and then turned towards the wall. _White, why was everything so white? Am I in a hospital again? _He frowned as his vision focused. The walls were more than just white, they were soft... like pillows themselves.

Ash rose gently up to his knees. Pain spasms swept down his arm from his injured shoulder. He gripped his wound instinctively, surprised to feel the gaze and padding under his fingertips. His shirt and jacket were gone- replaced with some sort of dark colored tank top he didn't recognize.

He fingered the new shirt numbly, taking in his surroundings. Not only the walls, but the floor and ceilings were padded as well.

Ash tried to climb to his feet. His vision swam and he quickly found himself back on his knees. _I guess I should be thankful for the padding then._

He paused, his hands sunk into the soft white floor, as the memory of his mistake rushed back. Pikachu was in danger... or dead already. And he himself was in no better a situation.

Andromeda had admitted that she planned to kill him- eventually.

Leaning against the wall for support, Ash tried climbing to his feet again. Anything to keep his mind off the increasing panic rising within himself. He trembled on his unsteady legs, fighting back the waves of dizziness that threatened to buckle them once more. It was the blood loss probably. And the fact that he hadn't been properly nourished in the last twenty four hours.

Ignoring the dull ache in his shoulder, Ash forced himself to lap the room. The only semblance of an exit he could find was a thinly concealed door within the white padding, with a tinted window cut into it.

Ash tapped the glass curiously, wondering if he should attempt breaking it. Would he injure his hand? Most likely. But the true question was, would the glass break at all? If it was especially thick, it'd be pointless trying.

After all, wasn't someone coming to experiment on him soon? Maybe he should try to conserve his strength.

And the thought sent chills through his body. Had it already come to that? Had he really resigned to his fate so neatly?

The thought weighing heavily upon him, Ash fell against the opposite wall, sliding back down to his knees. He was just tired. So tired of all this. Why couldn't he live normally for once?

His fingers teased the bandages on his shoulder again. He cringed at the soft pain that ebbed from the touch. Why did he have to get stabbed or shot or thrown off cliffs or electrocuted or held underwater? Why him? Why not anyone else?

Why did Mew come to him? Why did he have to protect Mewtwo? And why did his father... His father.

Ash hugged himself harder. Yes, his father. Why did his father have to be _him_? Why not anyone else? Why not some deadbeat asshole like any other kid abandoned by their father had? Why did _his_ father _have_ to be John Giovanni, leader of Team Rocket?

Ash looked up at the sound of the door opening. He tried to climb to his feet- the support of the wall was the only thing keeping him from crashing to his knees again.

Lewis wasn't even fazed. He only smiled and held up his free hand as if to hold him back, "Don't bother. You might as well save your strength."

In his opposite hand was a tray of food. Ash absentmindedly wondered why they always sent Lewis to feed him. Surely there were some other guards less important to do that sort of dirty work.

"Where's Pikachu? I know she gave him to you."

"Somewhere."

Lewis shut the door behind him with his foot.

"Where? Did you kill him?" The words felt heavy on his tongue. Lewis only smiled gently.

"There are these and these everywhere, Ash," Lewis said, pointing to his eye and ear and then lowering his voice considerably. "And no. I haven't decided how to _deal_ with it yet. But keep that to yourself or we'll both pay for it."

Ash wasn't sure he liked the answer but it was probably the best he could hope for now. At least, Lewis was considering doing right by Pikachu. If Lewis decided to release Pikachu maybe it could go find help somewhere. Maybe not in time to save his life, but at least its own would be spared.

_Again with these thoughts,_ Ash frowned. _It hasn't even started yet._

Lewis sat the tray down on the floor, stared at it for a moment, then unwrapped the utensils and started in on the rubbery looking steak.

"Uh. Isn't that supposed to be mine?" Ash asked weakly.

"Yeah, of course. I know," responded Lewis without looking up. "I'm just cutting it up for you."

"Oh... Well, um. Thanks, I guess."

Ash drew closer, not trusting himself to be able to get back to his feet once he hit the floor again. He shuffled awkwardly along the wall, leaning forward to get a look at what Lewis was doing to his food. Or what he suspected was food. It looked only slightly worse than the stuff they fed him at the pokemon centers.

But beggars can't be choosers. Especially if you are being held for ransom. He would just be lucky if they planned to feed him in between torture sessions.

"Uh, Lewis. Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"You worked for my... uh. Worked for Giovanni once, right?"

Lewis didn't bother to look up when he answered, "Yes."

"Did he... I mean... do you think... I'm... I'm..." Ash swallowed, realizing he really didn't have the guts to say so yet. Instead he decided on a different question.

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

Lewis paused and looked up. But his confused expression only promoted Ash to continue, "I mean, when I yell at you and threaten you and you just... shrug it off."

"I'm used to it."

"Well, but still. You don't know me. We're enemies here, aren't we?"

"Are we?" Lewis chuckled, tucking a loose yellow strand behind his ear. "The answer is yes. We are. But... I don't have an personal vendetta against you." He paused. "Your pikachu and you... you share intriguing bond. I... I guess you could say I'm envious. And I want to... iunno. Help I guess. Help the two of you."

At Ash's startled look, Lewis only laughed. He pulled up his sleeve and showed a small cross shaped indention on his upper arm. "See that," He said. "I was stabbed by a Beedrill when I was six. Ended up in the hospital for a whole week. And this," He lifted up his pant leg and lowered his sock to expose the marred up skin around his ankle. "Gnawed on by an Eevee. An Eevee! One of the most docile pokemon on the planet!"

Lewis sighed deeply and pulled his sleeve and pant leg back down, "My whole life I've been taught that to get a pokemon's complete obedience is to have them fear you. But they don't. Not me. I've ended up injured so many times... Unlike my brother, I'm just not intimidating. Even if we have the same face. Pokemon just don't listen to me. Instead they retaliate.

"But you," Lewis continued gesturing in Ash's direction. "Your Pikachu listens to you and you don't hit it or threaten or hurt it in any way. It obeys your will without question. It's more obedient than any pokemon I've ever seen by any other pokemon trainer. And I... I want to know how to do the same."

"You want me to teach you?" said Ash incredulously. "And in return, you'll help me and pikachu escape?"

Lewis set down the utensils suddenly. The rubbery meat was dashed in small square bites, each so neat and precise. For a moment, Ash was reminded of his own mother's careful and perfectionist nature. And he briefly wondered if he'd ever get to yell at her for _letting_ his father be a criminal mastermind.

"Those a treasonous words, Ash. And I'm not a traitor," said Lewis with quiet conviction.

Ash swallowed. "Then I don't follow."

"I'll help you. I'll try to help you. I haven't been ordered not to. I was ordered to get rid of your pikachu. I could just as easily release it. Or return him to you. I was never ordered not to do so. But... I was ordered to make sure you didn't escape. I wasn't ordered not to feed you. But I was ordered to inform Melanie when you woke up. I wasn't ordered not to treat your wounds... Do you understand yet?"

Ash gently touched the bandages on his shoulder. So Lewis had done this? Simply because he wasn't ordered not to? Ash's lost expression must have dissatisfied Lewis, for he continued, "If I was ordered to kill you, I would. I would shoot you in the head without hesitation. But," He smiled a wide smile, bewildering Ash further. "I wasn't given that order yet."

Ash frowned and turned away, "You're strange."

Lewis laughed, but it sounded weaker, more apologetic. He speared a piece of meat on the end of the fork and held it out to Ash. "Here. Eat. You can't be sure when you'll be able to again. Melanie is a bitch in every sense of the word."

Ash took the fork numbly. The meat looked frayed and dry. He started at it expectantly, as if it might suddenly be more important to him. Right now this meal looked disgusting. Would he soon long for just a single bite?

"I don't care if I die," said Ash slowly, twisting the fork around in his hand. "There are worse things."

Lewis stared at him with a strange twist to his smile. "And you said I was strange."

Ash slipped the meat into his mouth and swallowed without bothering to chew. He continued onto the other bites, eating by necessity and not for any sort of pleasure. Lewis watched him clean the plate. He didn't say anything until Ash had finished.

Once Ash had set down the fork, Lewis offered him a rare sort of smile. "I don't care if I die either, Ash Ketchum. That makes the two of us, two very dangerous sort of people."

Lewis picked up the dirty dishes and stood to go. Before heading out Ash's padded cell, he paused. Without turning to look at him, Lewis spoke into the door, "But I hope you live."

* * *

**Past**

**S**he hadn't been expecting to see his sleeping bag empty at this time of night. Misty rolled over and out of her own bag, careful not to wake the still slumbering Pikachu, Togepi and Brock.

Ash was at the cliff side. As she had suspected he'd be. He was always rather picky about where they'd chose to set up camp. Even more so now that they were back from the Orange Islands. Misty guessed that the oceanic views had spoiled him somehow. Now Ash couldn't stand to sleep without the night sky overhead.

He was perched on top of one of the boulders, his back to her. He didn't seemed to hear her approach, and she didn't want to disturb him. Instead, she watched. His features painted silver in the moonlight, and the stars reflected in his dark eyes like separate night skies.

It wasn't long before his eyes flickered over in her direction. He smiled softly, and held out his hand to help her climb up with him. He held out his hand even though he knew she'd never take it. Misty's pride was just as large as his own. Misty stubbornly climbed up beside him without his help.

"Couldn't sleep?" He asked.

"No," Misty said. "What about you?"

"Nightmares," He hugged knees to his chest as if remembering suddenly made him feel cold.

Misty tried to keep the sympathy from showing on her face. Ash was still a child when it came to products of his own imagination. And when the nightmares came, they bothered him for weeks at a time. It is was in these moments that Misty realized why Delia was so nervous about letting her twelve year old out into the world.

Ever since Ash was declared Chosen One back on Shamouti Island, his tendency to have nightmares had become more and more frequent. Most of them were ridiculous and easily excused. Others were harder to whisk away. To these Brock and Misty were of little comfort. All they could say was that it was just a dream.

He had dreamt that Team Rocket had died from their sacrificial plunge. He had dreamt that he had broken one of the spheres and failed the world. He had dreamt that he had drowned and dragged Misty and Pikachu down with him. He had dreamt that Lugia had killed them all... with that horrible yellow beam of his; a focus of compressed energy that would kill at mere touch.

Misty moved closer to him and tried to comfort him with her closeness. It was hard to resist the urge to put her arms around him. They ached with emptiness.

"Wanna talk about it?"

Ash smiled softly into his knees. "It's kind of silly actually."

"If it's still bothering you it can't be all that silly."

Ash sighed loudly and closed his eyes. The silence hung between them as uncomfortably as the hot summer night air. Misty thought she could smell the hint of rain on the wind. It would be a welcome interruption to the lazy summer days.

"It's because they feel so real."

Misty could hear the pain heavy in his voice. She wanted to egg him on, but held her tongue. If Ash wanted to continue, he would.

And he did. After a moment's pause, he added, "There's this pokemon... I can't see it very well. But... it's so much taller than me. With deep... dark... evil eyes. Its voice booms in my head but I can't make out the words... over and over. Until it gets so angry that it... it..."

Despite herself, Misty found that she was gently rubbing Ash's back. He seemed to appreciate the touch. Instead of moving away, Ash leaned against her. Her heart leapt hard into her throat.

"It hurt me..." He finished anticlimactically. "In my mind... it hurt."

"Sounds like a psychic pokemon," Misty said, her voice small and sounding far away. She didn't know how she could muster to say anything with Ash so close, leaning his head on her shoulder. She could feel his soft hair tickling her face.

Ash frowned, seemingly dissatisfied with the conclusion. "I've never seen an Alakazam like that."

"It's just a dream, Ash. Don't worry so much," said Misty, trying to sound more confident than she felt. "And... and if such a pokemon showed up... if it did exist, pikachu would protect you against it. You know he would... As would all your pokemon. And Brock and I would never... never let it hurt you Ash."

Even to herself, the promise sounded empty. As if she was trying to comfort a child against an invisible nemesis under the bed. She knew full well if a psychic pokemon had their sights set on Ash, the legendary chosen one, there would be little any one of them could do. But she wouldn't be the one to tell Ash that.

And that didn't mean she wouldn't try. Misty felt certain that she would protect Ash to the best of her ability. After all... what were _friends _ for?

"Thank you."

"I mean it."

"Thanks," Ash continued awkwardly. He looked away. In the low moonlight, Misty almost thought she had caught a tinge of pink on his cheeks.

Misty couldn't keep the faint smile from her lips.

"Well," She made to climb to her feet. "I better get back. You should try to sleep too, Ash-"

"Wait," Ash caught her hand. For a moment it seemed as though he had forgotten why he had taken it. He stared at her hand and then into her face.

And then before Misty knew what was happening, he was kissing her.

He was _kissing_ her. She could feel his lips tenderly pressed against her own, as if he were afraid of breaking her. Just as quickly as Misty had realized that this was her first kiss, she realized that this was his too. He wasn't sure on how to move his lips around hers. If he should touch her face or her hair... no matter how much he longed to. And she wondered if perhaps she should wrap her arms around him now, or if it was too soon?

It was an awkward brief moment that their lips were locked. And then Ash pulled away.

"I- I'm sorry, Misty," He muttered hastily before half climbing- half jumping off the rock and away from her. She watched him go, wondering if he meant to kiss her at all? If she should follow? If they should talk? But most of all, she wondered what this made them now?

He called her _Misty_, not Mist.

He kissed her.

In the morning, Ash acted as if nothing had happened. Misty played along reluctantly, all the while still feeling the press of his lips against hers.

* * *

**S**he cooed tenderly to the tiny infant, wrapped in blanket that Samuel had so kindly offered her. The dear Professor had offered her many things. A temporary resident in a room at his laboratory that he had meticulously cleared out, cleaned and prepared for her. A job in his lab so that she could keep herself and her newborn son off the streets. A possible permanent residence on some of his extra pasture land.

Not to mention what he was trying to do for her dead pikachu.

The professor hadn't really had a baby bed laying around. But what he did have was a son in law more than able to build one in time for Ashton. She watched her son sleep in the pine cradle, her whole life appropriately bound up in a yellow blanket.

The two of them were sharing a back room of the lab. One that had once been a small store room. Now it held a mattress, a box full of old clothing (hers and her son's) that the professor's daughter, Karen, had generously given her. And of course Ashton's new cradle.

She only wished there was something she could do in return for these wonderful people.

But she couldn't even tell them her real name. Not if _that_ woman was still looking for her.

Dido gently stroked the sides of her son's face. He had his father's hair color unfortunately. But he had her eyes. Her nose. And he'd carry her name. That's all that mattered. He was her son, forever and always.

She looked up when she heard a soft rap on the door. It was far too early in the morning for her to be needed just yet. Surely the professor would not expect her to start working until at least the clock had chimed seven.

"Come in?"

Samuel poked his head in, smiling as always. "He asleep?"

"Fast."

"Do you think he'd mind terribly if I stole his mother for a moment?"

Dido gathered up her long skirt and quietly joined Samuel in the hall. She closed the door tight behind herself. "Is something the matter?"

"Well... a bit," He frowned and tossed his head in such a way that beckoned her to follow him. "I need to show you something."

He walked part ways down the corridor before noticing she hadn't been following. Her expression was one of tight anxiety. He could be calling her out for a number of reasons. None of which she wanted to go with him on.

"It's about your pikachu."

At those words, she quickly fell into pace behind him.

* * *

**"M**ist! Wait! Please wait," Ash wheezed when he had finally caught up with her. He grabbed her by the crook of her elbow. She turned her face away from him so that he couldn't see the tears that were running down her face. She kept Togepi painfully tight to her chest, the tiny pokemon squirming in uncomfortable protest.

"What did I say?"

"If you don't know then- then... I don't know why I have to spell it out for you."

"I would have thought you would have been happy to get your bike back. I mean it's all you've griped about since you started following me and Pikachu around..."

"I didn't follow you halfway around the world for a damn bike, Ash!"

Her sharp tone startled both Ash and the pikachu perched on his shoulder. They shared a brief glance at one another, her words sinking in. And then Ash bounced back quicker than Misty would have liked, "For what then?"

She turned away from him again, fighting off the new wave of tears stinging her eyes. "Why don't you know?"

"I can't know until you tell me."

Misty shook off a half hearted laugh, "I can't just _tell_ you. God."

The silence stung. She tried not to look at him. She tried to bite back the emotion that made her body shudder. But the tears still fell in messy streams down her face.

She set her squirming Togepi in the grass. The little egg pokemon waddled over and pawed at Ash's pant leg. Ash gently lowered Pikachu to the ground, scratched him by the ears and gave him an encouraging push back towards the pokemon center. With silent obiendence, Pikachu complied- taking the chirpy Togepi with.

It was still a long while before Ash could muster up the courage to speak. And still, Misty's voice cut through his own.

"Mist I-"

"Did it mean anything to you?"

"Did... what?"

"Did _this_!" Misty shouted, wildly gesturing to her lips. "Was I just some experiment? A momentary loss of judgment?"

"No... I-"

"Then what Ash? Did you just lose control because of your hormones?"

Now it was Ash's turn to look away. But Misty wasn't going to let him. She grabbed him by the shoulders roughly, hoping to get something- anything out of his face. The answer she had sought out for years. The answer she thought had been answered that night in Johto, only to be never spoken of again.

"Talk! Talk god dammit! Give me an excuse!"

"I don't have any, okay!"

Ash's sudden shout released himself from Misty's grasp. She fell back, the tears overwhelming her again. Only because she could see tears slipping down Ash's face.

"I don't have _any_ excuse," said Ash softly. "For what happened that night... Or for anything. I don't know why. I'm just... sorry."

Ash wiped the tears furiously from his face. Even when he looked up her, tears still gleamed in his eyes. "But you have to believe me, I'll miss you. I'll miss you a hundred times over and a hundred times back. And I wish you didn't have to go help your sisters. I really... _really_ wish you didn't. I wish you could stay with me- that we could continue on this journey- all of us, you, me, Brock and Pikachu _forever_... But your family needs you. And I'm not selfish enough to keep you... though I wish I was.

"What I mean to say is... that I _will_ miss you, _Misty_. I'll miss you every day until we meet again. And that's a promise."

Though she tried, Misty couldn't fight off her smile. "A promise."

* * *

**D**ido stared at the scrawl of numbers that followed each other in clumpy seemingly nonsensical patterns down the sheet of paper in her hands. The list folded upon self onto a stack. It's width was almost larger than then span of her palm. She followed the lines with unfocused eyes.

"I don't understand. What is this?"

"That proves that your pokemon is in this pokeball," said the excited professor, lifting the knifed pokeball up carefully as if it were exhibit A.

Dido's brows furrowed. She squinted back down at the piece of paper skeptically, "Didn't we already know that?"

"Oh, quite the contrary. The process of a pokemon going into a pokeball is a inexact science. In fact, hardly any true comprehension of what the pokemon becomes upon entering the ball is known. Are the pokemon shrunk? Are they transferred into an alternate space? It's almost magical- the pokeball. In fact, the only reason the pokeball was even re-invented was sheer dumb luck. Isomyer didn't know how what he had uncovered worked, except that it did. An ancient practice that only those that had truly invented understood."

"And you?"

Samuel Oak smiled and wagged a finger at her. He seemed almost too excited to speak. And his enthusiasm was contagious.

"They become... energy."

"Energy?"

"That's right. A certain type of energy, that is practically invisible to the naked _human_ eye. An energy that humans contain little of. But pokemon are comprised of solely.

"If I were to compare a pokeball to say... a vacuum. The entry point would of course be the button," continued Oak tapping the hilt of the knife that had sliced the button in half. "With the force of attracting magnets, the pokemon's form would be sucked in- particle by particle. Until it is retained by the spherical container. The walls of the pokeball seem almost like the repelling side of a magnet in its force to keep pokemon in. The more powerful the pokeball, the more powerful the magnet, thus the more powerful the energy from the reluctant powerful pokemon taken."

Samuel paused to take a breath. His cheeks flushed, "Do you follow me so far?"

"Ah yes. I think so. But what does this have to do with my pokemon?"

"It means," said Samuel. "That your pokemon's body is intact. The metal knife did indeed penetrate the innards of the pokeball but since pokemon are nothing more than an essence inside- your pokemon survived the impact."

Dido felt as though Oak had just reached inside her and seized her heart. "You mean Pikachu... is alive."

"Was... unfortunately. When the pokeball failed to open, the pokemon couldn't receive the proper nourishment. I'm afraid it died of malnutrition."

Dido tried to ignore emotion that she thought she had already experienced before. When she couldn't protect her pokemon the first time. When she saw the blade come down. When she tried for hours, wrenching and pulling- trying to get her pikachu out. Trying to save pikachu until her fingers bled, and she was half crazy from the effort and the rain and the cold.

She jumped when Oak touched her arm. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said so much."

Dido hastily wiped away at her tears. "No, it's my fault. I knew that... but still... I guess I didn't realize that I still had my hopes up."

"Still... I'm sorry."

"Can you retrieve Pikachu.... from the pokeball?"

"No," At Dido's withered look, Oak continued. "Not yet. But that's what I wanted to show you. It's completely possible to retrieve your pokemon. The technology is just not up to date. But in a few years, I will be sure to make sure your pokemon is returned to you."

Dido straightened the stack of papers absentmindedly and sighed. "I've waited this long. What's a few more years?"

* * *

**A**sh felt the waves of the pokemon's attack rushing like waves of electricity over his body. He didn't know why or what it was attacking. But there it was again in the sky above him, continuously haunting all of his nightmares. His body ached. He was on his hands and knees, seeing pairs of pokemon laying all around.

They were all hanging in some sort of perpetual white hell. He could see no end or beginning to the whiteness. Some of the pokemon appeared faded out- so blurred that he couldn't make out what was what.

"I have to stop them."

Ash looked beside himself. Misty was there, holding him up. In that silly skimpy yellow tank top short shorts and spender outfit. Ash hadn't seen her in that sort of git-up in years. He thought it made her look too young. But when he looked at her closer he suddenly realized. She didn't look a day over eleven!

"But how?" Ash found himself saying, though he thought he had been talking about Misty's appearance. Instead his mouth continued to move without his consent. "All Mewtwo cares about is proving how strong his super clones are."

_Mewtwo! Mew's son? Clones? What's going on? _Ash tried to move his head but he only had eyes for Misty. It seemed his conscious mind had separated from his current body. He was left watching his surroundings like a film played out through his own eyes.

"I wish there was some way to stop them," said a bodiless voice on Ash's far right. "I don't know what to do."

"I don't think they'll ever stop. Those pokemon look like they're ready to fight to the death."

"That's a fight that nobody's going to win," said Ash softly, again without thought. He felt Misty squeeze his arm sympathetically. Her eyes were hard. The expression on her face frightened him.

"Someone's gotta take a stand. Someone's gotta say no... and refuse to fight. Just like..."

Her voice was cut off by another rush of psychic charged discharge crashed into their weak human bodies. Ash shuddered, gritting his teeth against the pain. His bones ached to the core. He didn't think he could manage to get up. And the sorrow that was sinking into him made it hard to want to. He had no idea what was going on. But he knew it was hopeless. They were going to die.

Suddenly Misty left his side. She stood up. He knew what she was going to do but he couldn't move fast enough. Ash reached up to catch her arm but she slipped away. She was running... running straight into the center of the battle field.

_I have to stop them, _she had said.

"Misty no! Don't!"

He could hear her scream as the energies collide. Heard her body rip apart, her gasp those psychic pokemon tore from her lungs as her entire body was consumed- as if it were happening to him instead. He felt her pain. She hung crucified in the air before gently the life stealing energies laid her down... and Ash found he couldn't breathe.

* * *

**Present**

"_**M**__isty!"_ Ash screamed, faltering halfway through his shriek as his voice gave way. His own voice jolted himself awake. He couldn't jerk himself up all the way. He was fastened down to the armrests of a red reclining chair- that looked suspicious to one used in dentist offices. And there was a pokemon staring at him. If Alakazams could grin, Ash was sure it would have.

"That was fantastic. What a wonderful performance. Beautiful really," said the monotone voice Ash had heard only seconds before losing consciousness before. His eyes instantly shot over to where the frail-looking young woman sat. She looked like she was the size of a pixie to him. Her hair was a deep violet, almost black- tied neatly back into low hanging pigtails. To him, he looked like Wednesday from the Adam's Family, except a little less corpse like.

Her voice had never raised an octave. Not even when Ash had swung a few punches her way or had screamed profanities at her for being tied to a chair. Yes... she had done this to him. Always cool and collected, with a constant amused smile pasted on her pale face. Melanie was just as frightening as Lewis said she would be.

"Is Misty your girlfriend then?"

"My best friend."

"Oh. I'm sure," said Melanie coolly. "I wonder what she would scream out when under my control."

Ash fought against the bonds that held him. "You stay away from her."

"As if I'd have any interest in her when I have you. You who screams so beautifully," chuckled Melanie. It was the closest thing that Ash had heard to laughter from her. Her voice raised slightly and her smile had become a bit more profound. "The nightmare attack worked wonders on you. Really, I hadn't expected such a quick reaction. You _must_ be highly sensitive to psychic energies. Probably a synch to hypnotize, right?"

Ash scowled but said nothing. It was true, he had been easy to hypnotize in the past. And he had particularly overwhelmed whenever his pokemon fought pokemon of the psychic variety. He always assumed he was scared, which was probably half of it. But he did notice that he felt physically weaker. As if he couldn't run as fast as he'd like to. As if he couldn't think as a quickly as he'd hope to. Or scream as loud as he'd want to.

"It's really been too long since Ali and me got to practice on a human... It really gets so dull just dealing with pokemon. They don't shriek at all like humans. Hurts my ears. Makes my job so much less enjoyable."

"Must have been horrible for you," said Ash through gritted teeth.

She sighed. "Well, at least I can put that behind me now. Andromeda has given me such a wonderful gift. I shall have to make sure you last, now won't I?"

She squeezed his hand. Ash would have squirmed out of her grip if his arms weren't fastened to the chair. Instead he grit his teeth and wondered if he could salivate enough to spit in the woman's face.

As if sensing his thoughts, Melanie withdrew. For a moment, only silence stood between them. Then a smile slithered back across Melanie's face.

"I think I do want to hypnotize you."

Her threat didn't create the desired effect on its target. Ash only stared.

"You're not afraid of being hypnotized?"

Ash smiled. "You can't be hypnotized to do anything beyond your own will and nature. What do I have to be afraid of?"

"Did I say _I_ would hypnotize you? Oh, pardon. Slip of the tongue. I meant my Alakazam here will," Ash spared a glance the pokemon's way, and regretted it. Melanie caught his look, "A pokemon's power of suggestion is a great deal more powerful than that of a humans... But I think you already know that, don't you? Having once competed with Sabrina for a Indigo League badge."

"And what would you once you've hypnotized me?" said Ash. "Make me cluck like a chicken or bark like a dog?"

Melanie laughed. And Ash was starting to realize he almost hated her laugh as much as Andromeda's.

"Oh Ash. That's so juvenile. Do you really think I'd stoop so low as to make you do something so beneath you? When with my power you could be... so much _more_." Melanie paused by the arm of his chair. Ash flinched when she reached behind to push the back of the chair down. So used to Andromeda grabbing him suddenly- he had expected the same behavior from Melanie. But this woman seemed much more hesitant to touch him.

She leaned over him, the tips of her pigtails close to tickling his face. "I could make you kill your own pokemon.

"Or hold up a pokemon center," Melanie added almost offhandedly as she headed back to the computer screens that blackened the walls. Screens where she was monitoring his pulse, brain activity, and various other things that Ash was sure the chair was reading off of him now. He could feel, even without the accelerated beeps around them, that his heart was racing. "Maybe fall in love someone you don't want to... Hm. I would take some time but theoretically... I could rewrite your entire life by just changing what goes on up in your head."

Melanie stopped talking. He could hear dull clicking of a keyboard somewhere beyond his line of sight. It was all he could do to blink back the stinging tears as he stared hard into the ceiling tiles above his head.

He wished that the ceiling tiles were that of a dentist office. The place gave him shivers. All the cold instruments, the most frightening meant cleave bone, and the faint smell of iodine in the air. But the ceiling was further away than the dentist office that his mom used to take him to in Viridian. And the room was entirely too dark- too quiet aside from the soft keyboard clicks.

_Soon,_ Ash mouthed to himself. _I'll be waking up from this nightmare soon. _

But even as he said it, he couldn't make himself believe it.

* * *

To Be Continued...  
Please Read and Review!

I hope the small visual clues might have helped with the readings this time around. I find them a little jarring but I hope that they might be able to help those differentiate what's meant to be flashback and what's meant to be present day situation.

Sorry for the long wait. I had a tug-a-war with this chapter trying to get things to work out the way I wanted them to. And it's a lot longer than I had planned it to be. Hope to not take as much time with the next one.

Thanks to those who reviewed last time! Many thanks to Starr18, pikagurl23, aurora_wings, Gogglehead Lover, Phone Whore Liza, keyblader1991, Redenzione, Wolfwhispers, Javelon, Penamesolen, sidajack, pokeshipper409, lemonz, Airess Byrd, Milotic, Crysania Fay, Rastanton94, Pikajenn, BluFox15, Axletia Rosonetis, Kyoumi, YumeTakato, Dreamlight, TJay-Dragg Shiny Latios Fluke, and Cyber-Porygon.

Since it didn't happen this chapter, next chapter- Giovanni should receive the rendezvous for the ransom exchange. And more Ash torture. Because that's fun.

Please leave a review if you could please! I'd appreciate it!


	18. Torture

The Blind Alley

**Disclaimers**: If I owned Pokemon, you would know it.

**AN:/** I know I take forever and a day to update. But I hope, at least, that the updates are worth it.

Thanks for the 200+ reviews! I can't believe how this story that started off with just four or so reviewers really climbed up there. I really appreciate it. Thanks, all of you!

Four years is a long time for an update. And unfortunately in that time, this chapter has been rewritten about five times. Computers crashed. Documents were lost. It's been a nightmare. But I hope you all enjoy the finished product.

Pay attention though. If you've seen the first pokemon movie, I'll be dropping easter eggs all over this chapter. :)

**Last Time On TBA:  
**Dreams, a prisoner, kisses, unfulfilled promises, and torture.  
Quote: "I could make you kill your own pokemon."

* * *

**Chapter Eighteen: **Torture

And I find it kinda funny  
I find it kinda sad  
The dreams in which I'm dying  
Are the best I've ever had  
-Gary Jules

**A**t nearly a full year old, Ashton could reach things he really wasn't supposed to. And Oak wasn't nearly attentive enough to keep track of the toddler. He only ever found the after math. The opened cabinets, the scattered piles of important paperwork, a line of magic marker down the hall and into his front foyer. It was a wonder the boy hadn't run out of ways to get into trouble.

This time, Ashton had begun the process of de-shelving the bottom bookshelf in Professor Oak's study. Oak needed to look up something in one of his research books and happened upon the mess, for once, that was still in progress.

"Oh dear god," Oak exclaimed, rushing to scoop the boy up before he could pile up enough books to reach the next few shelves. "Do you always have to be so hard to baby sit?"

Ashton merely hung in Oak's arms with indifference. Instead of fearing reprimand, Ashton turned about in Oak's grip so as to shove a book in his face.

"Here," he said simply.

It was an thin book titled _Pokemon Populated Regions of the World_. It was probably the only book in Oak's entire library that had some sort of semblance to a picture book.

"No that's alright," said Oak putting the boy back down, a careful distance away from the book shelves. "I've already read it."

"Here," said Ashton, forcing the book on Oak.

There was really no dissuading a toddler. He should have already known that from his own stubborn grandchildren.

Upon receiving the book, Oak turned to put it back on its proper shelf. But the spot he chose ended up consequently unleashing an avalanche of books down upon him. Thankfully only Oak was victim to it. Ash merely watched with curious eyes as the professor cursed and grudgingly began the arduous task of putting everything back.

"Here," said Ashton, holding up a new book. This time, Oak was grateful for his help. It was a pain bending down each time.

As he reached for the book, he paused. Its cover was rough, and unmarked. The whole book looked hand bound. Which meant... it could only be one of his old sketchbooks.

He gently accepted the book from Ashton. Its pages were delicate and yellowed with age. But the pencil strokes were unmistakable.

"Goodness," said Oak as he flipped through the book. "These sketches... I think I was still a child with this one."

"Here."

Ashton was holding up another book, but so deeply engrossed in the one already handed to him- Oak didn't notice. Nor did he notice when Ashton pulled on his pant legs and then defeated- grudgingly tossed the book back into the pile.

Oak was entranced by the smudged and faded drawings- the book having survived nearly two lifetimes. And there was one, fresher than the rest. A well loved picture of a Pikachu and the legendary Celebi, sleeping soundly against each other.

It was because of the Celebi that Oak had hidden away the sketchbook. Legendaries weren't normal subjects of portraits. And certainly not such an accurate portrayal as the one he had provided. If it gotten out that a certain unknown professor in the Pallet region had happened upon a Celebi in his youth, he and his family would never find peace.

Neither would poor Celebi. And Oak owed the pokemon too much to let that happen.

Oak could smell the heavy musk of the woods that still perfumed the yellowed pages. The woods he had spent both past and future in. But how far in the future, Oak could not say.

Nor could he say that he might ever meet the friend he had made there. As the middle aged man ran a hand down the page, he wondered if the pikachu's owner was yet alive.

He rested his fingertips just below the pikachu's closed eyes. And for some reason, Dido appeared in his mind's eye. He could see the first night they had met; her unkempt appearance that still did not fully mask the beauty that she was. Heavily pregnant and lifting a speared pokeball to him.

She had wanted him to save her pikachu. Although there was no way he could have managed it, Oak still felt guilty that he had failed to do so. He hadn't yet managed to return her pikachu's body to her either.

Oak could see how what had happened to her pokemon caused her pain. But he couldn't find out _what_ exactly had happened. Just that it was unfortunate and painful.

And that Dido was running from it.

Oak had dreamed up possible pasts for the mysterious woman. An abusive husband. Ashamed parents. Or just a misunderstanding that left her no other option but to flee. He also dreamed up names. But none, names nor pasts, seemed to fit her. It didn't help that he had also grown used to just calling her Dido, even if it was just an alias.

Oak sighed, tapping the image of pikachu dolefully. "If only I knew some of what had happened, Dido. Maybe then I could help you and Ashton."

He paused, the name of Dido's son falling heavy on his tongue. Ever since he first heard it, he felt... a familiarity with it. The name gnawed at him and Oak couldn't be sure why. But with the sketchbook laying across his lap, something came to him.

What was his name? Andrew? Alec? Adam?

Despite the harrowing experience they went through together, it still was only a mere day or so in Oak's life. He had desperately clung to the boy's memory in his younger years- searching faces and names for a sign of the friend he had left behind in the future. But as time passed, Oak had resigned himself to the fact that his strange travels through time might never be reaffirmed.

But... the boy's name did start with an A, didn't it?

Oak flipped through the rest of the sketchbook, wishing that he had drawn a portrait of his future friend. But its pages surrendered no answers.

And still the thought lingered. Perhaps it was only because the child had handed the book to him and had thus influenced his memories... or maybe Oak just wanted it to be so. But he thought that maybe his friend from the future was named Ash.

Dido's son was named Ashton. But the full name sounded heavy. No- he recalled the name being short, a single syllable. Perhaps Ash was a nickname.

It wasn't so far a stretch. Though the coincidence that Ash happened to be born in Oak's not yet then home of Pallet was... daunting. Could the dark haired boy from the future really be Dido's troublesome dark haired son of the present?

It was possible. Ashton was already making himself out to be very much like his future counterpart. If Oak remembered correctly, his friend had been reckless, a bit foolhardy and yet, truly compassionate about pokemon. Ash had risked his life more than once for Celebi's sake.

Ash wasn't at all bad a person for Ashton to grow up into.

And he was the right age. For the events from Oak's own past to take place, his twelve year old friend needed a few years to grow up. And as Oak considered the matter, counting the years up in his head, he stopped. He stared at the pokemon sleeping next to the Celebi and his heart began to race.

His friend had owned a pikachu.

Dido also had owned a pikachu.

Was in mere coincidence? Or was he more involved in his friend's future than he had ever realized?

Spurred by his sudden recollection, Oak slammed the notebook shut and looked around for Dido's son. Maybe he _was_ crazy. How could fate have brought them together so neatly? The chances were one in a million.

But maybe... Just _maybe_.

Ashton wasn't in the room. Satisfied with the damage done here or simply bored with Oak's indifference, Ashton had wandered off to cause trouble elsewhere.

Oak had just bent over to peek underneath his dining room table when a heavy knocking came from the front door. Professor Oak paused, letting the corner of tablecloth fall from his hand. Admittedly, it was a bit... odd.

He wasn't expecting anyone. Most of his family members and friends knew to walk in through the opened back porch door. His daughter and her family had been pulled away for business in Saffron. And Dido confessed that she planned to be away most of the evening, tasking herself to some much needed shopping in Viridian Plaza.

The knocking came again with more urgency than before.

"I'm coming. I'm coming," Oak called, making his way down the hall and into the front foyer.

The raps on the door continued incessantly. And Oak wished for a moment that he had installed a chain lock on his door like that of the one he put on his daughter's. Or at least a peep hole. The hammering was somewhat alarming in the otherwise quiet dusk of evening.

But Oak did not yet find it alarming enough. For he foolishly opened the door too quickly- too widely. And found himself staring down the barrel of a gun.

"What is this now?" cried Oak.

The surly looking man on the opposite end of the gun said nothing. Only kept a hand on the door and pushed his way into the house. Oak stood by helplessly. He threw up his hands instinctively at the sight of the gun and had not yet dared to lower them.

The man with the gun took once glance around before managing an almost Cheshire cat like grin.

"Well old man. You seem fairly well off. But where do you keep your pokemon?"

Oak was at a loss for words. He stared blankly at the man. A few prods in the chest with the gun barrel brought sense back to him. He stumbled back against the foyer's front wall and sputtered, "My pokemon?"

"You're the pokemon professor..." The man pulled out a pamphlet from his jacket pocket and gave it a once over. "Samuel Oak, aren't you?"

Oak recognized the pamphlet as being one from a Johto conference he had attended a few months ago. At the time he had been honored to be acknowledged on a panel along with so many of his more infamous peers. Now, staring down the barrel of a would-be pokemon thief's gun, he felt considerably less so.

"I would say no, but I don't think you'd believe me," chuckled Oak halfheartedly.

The man flipped the pamphlet over. His finger was on not only Oak's name but a picture that now, looking back on it, wasn't quite as unflattering as he found it at the time.

"I suppose not then..."

"Come on. Let's go for a walk."

A few more prods with the gun barrel started Oak down the hall. He deliberately stalled as long as possible. Not only to save his pokemon from this unkind thief and possible black market trade but also to protect Dido's son, whom Oak suspected was still running around somewhere.

He walked into an end table. The photographs and glass trinkets rattled but didn't fall. Oak's eyes rested on one of the twisted glass blown bottles. It had belong to his late wife. She owned many of the strange glass containers and filled them with layers of colorful sand. Pidgeys came to mind. If... If he could only manage to blind the man before the gun was fired...

"Hey, keep moving," said the pokemon thief, knocking the gun into Oak's back again.

Professor Oak lurched purposively with the blow and snatched a glass bottle off the table. It was slippery in his clammy hands; its contorted shape sliding in his grip like a withering snake. He muttered and mumbled about bad manners while slipping it underneath his sweater. There he cradled it, moving forward- waiting for a chance.

So preoccupied was he, that Oak didn't realize that he was being led back into his study. The books still formed little mounds around their shelves. And from behind the couch waddled little Ashton.

Oak froze. At first he hoped that the thief didn't notice the small child. Ashton was fairly quiet and low to the ground, moving behind the floor lamp now. But that hope was short lived.

"He yours?"

Oak couldn't bring himself to reply. But it seemed he didn't have to. Ashton made his way fearlessly towards them, a book in hand. With a pang of dread, Oak recognized it as his old sketchbook- still flipped back to the page of the Celebi and Pikachu.

"Here," said Ashton holding it out to him.

He couldn't take it. His hands were shaking- still gripping tightly to the bottle of sand under his sweater. Ashton frowned and then turned to the man with the gun.

"Here."

"Thanks kid," The thief said with some amusement. He tousled the boy's hair with his gun bearing hand and took the sketchbook in his other. Doubtless the man noticed the unfamiliar pokemon leaning against the pikachu. He squinted at the page for a moment or two before Oak's will gave out.

"It's nothing. I picked it up somewhere. A garage sale or something, I think."

"Right. A garage sale," said the man flipping through the rest of the sketchbook disinterestedly.

"It's the honest truth!"

"I heard you the first time, old man." The thief flipped the book closed and stuffed it unceremoniously through his belt. Oak winced as the pages were rippled and bent against the thief's body. To have lived two lifetimes and yet be treated so disrespectfully... With a toothy smile, the thief answered Oak's pointed stare, "Maybe you can show me where you found this after we're done here."

Satisfied, Ashton let himself be pushed roughly to Oak's side. The old man clung onto Ashton's sleeve with trembling fingers.

"Move," said the thief. He trained the sights down lower, down at Ashton's head. Oak pulled the little boy up in front of him in the vain hopes of shielding him from harm.

They were forced out the back door. Oak lived next door to his much larger laboratory. Over time, his laboratory had grown in size- especially with Dido in his employ. He had added a few extra rooms recently to accommodate her and her son until they got on their feet. The pokemon storage units were in the back. He didn't have nearly as many as he would like; Pallet being such a small design of the Kanto region. But there would be more than enough there to satisfy the thief and ruin whatever chances Oak had for his research and fame.

So far the only chance Oak predicted he and Ashton might have was in the store rooms- once the thief was distracted with removing the pokeballs. He could throw the sand, steal the gun, lock the thief in the store room and run for help. It seemed to work out all well and good in his head. But Oak felt queasy when even contemplating wrestling the man for his gun. He was an old and gangly professor of the pokemon sciences. His contender looked young and well exercised. Oak's chances of taking the gun away from the thief without him or Ashton getting hurt were pretty slim.

Unexpectedly the thief steered them away from the laboratory and towards the bordering pasture lands. Oak hesitated at first. He didn't quite get this man's angle. It was obvious where the pokemon were being held. Why lead them to the pastures?

And then it hit Oak like a ton of bricks. _There'd be no one to hear us this far out. _Oak tightened his grip around Ashton's sleeve. _He plans to kill us first. _

Thunder clouds loomed in the distance. He could hear the low rumbles with some apprehension.

They stopped at a pasture fence just on the outskirts of the wooded glen. They were near the end of his property line. Beyond here, Oak wasn't sure where the valley dipped and turned. He looked furtively out into the trees; it was their only remaining prospect.

"Turn around," said the man.

Oak let go of Ashton's sleeve. The boy was blissfully ignorant of the danger he faced. He was grabbing at fallen helicopter seeds littering the ground at their feet. Ashton plopped down aiming to play with them all.

"I said turn around."

Oak tore his gaze from the little boy and instead focused ahead to the trees. He clasped his late wife's bottle between his hands unable to do much but mouth a prayer to her now. _Please. Let this work._

Then the thief had lost all his patience. He grabbed at Oak's shoulder, intending to turn the old man around by force. But he hadn't anticipated Oak's counter attack.

"Turn aro-" The man started just before swallowing a mouthful of rainbow sand.

Oak had aimed for the man's eyes. Some of it did hit his eyes, though the majority fell into his open mouth. Blinded and hacking up sand, the man dropped. Oak shattered the glass bottle over the man's head. The glass exploded around his hands on impact. He felt the bite of tiny shards, like invisible teeth, cutting into his skin. _Too brittle. It won't cause enough damage, _Oak realized. Without anymore weapons left to his disposal, Oak swept up Ashton into his arms and ran for the trees.

The rain had started, falling like a heavy curtain over top of them. Ashton blinked up at the raindrops, as if not ever being on the receiving end of rain before.

They had just made it to the tree line when a shot rang out. Oak stumbled- his vision momentarily went white. A sharp pain bled from his shoulder and Ashton was screaming.

Oak kept running. He had a hard time keeping hold of the panicking child with palms bleeding from glass teeth, but somehow he managed. Oak heard a few more gun shots and anticipated the same white hot pain. They missed, cracking into the nearby trees and undergrowth. The crack of a pokeball behind them chilled Oak far more so than the gunshots. He heard the snarls long before the creature had caught up.

The pokemon pounced them from behind. Oak fell just before a steep gully. And Ashton, poor little Ashton, was flung spectacularly from his arms; into the gully. Digging his fingers into the wet soil and leaves, Ashton only just managed to keep from falling over the side.

"Ash! Ash run!"

Ashton somehow pulled himself up onto his short legs. But the creature, that Oak could recognize now as particularly nasty looking Houndoom, was fast upon him. Ashton hadn't yet managed a few wobbly steps before the pokemon leapt.

"No!" Oak cried.

Ashton screamed. His hollow cry sounded all wrong. No such sound should come from a child so young. All high pitched and shrill; too short, having been cut off before his little lungs could fill. And then it was on him.

The little boy swung about at the right time to avoid being pinned. But alas, he did not escape. The Houndoom neatly caught Ashton's arm in its horrible jaws. And then it chomped down hard. Blood spurted from its mouth as it violently pulled the child to the forest floor. Ash gave an airless rasping cry; it spoke octaves of pain.

Houndoom wrestled the little boy about before mercilessly flinging him into a tree. Ashton, limp as a corpse, slid down the trunk. His head lolled to his chest. His arm dangled useless across his body- the blood blackening his sleeve and into his shirt. Oak could hardly see for the tears in his eyes.

"No! No No No!" screamed Oak, flinging whatever he could from his downcast position over at the beast. Wads of dying grass and leaves that he clawed from the forest soil fell far too short. Too short.

The pokemon was undeterred.

_ There are no evil pokemon,_ his own voice intoned; an echo through his fading consciousness. _Not a pokemon. A monster. _

And as it came upon the unconscious child, Oak's vision gave out. He spent the last minutes of his consciousness in darkness with nothing but the thunderous din of the storm to lull him to sleep.

* * *

**A**sh jerked awake with the sounds of the storm still pounding at his ears. He felt that he was drowning and panicked accordingly. His heavy limbs wouldn't cooperate- bound tight to his sides. He could only squirm and writhe- flap his hands about in an attempt to fight his invisible bonds.

It took a sharp slap to get Ash to breathe again. The air came, in great heaves, exploding reality into shape and color around him once more.

"Hm. Interesting," said Melanie pulling back her hand from his face. "You have some strange jewels from your childhood, don't you?"

What, Ash tried to say. But the mouth guard clenched between his teeth was hard to talk around. His cheek still stung from Melanie's slap making the movement painful.

He was reclined in the same chair, the restraints still belted around his wrists, ankles and waist. Oddly, Ash felt as though he had be transported. To where, he couldn't quite say. The dream was already floating away from his consciousness. But the actuality of the room and the chair he was strapped to didn't seem real yet.

"Don't worry," she continued. "I'm not too interested in that particular repressed memory. It's the thing that's underlining it that's peaked my interest. It seems to be influencing all your memories... kernels of it have been wrapped inconspicuously around each of them- as if to hide..."

Melanie flicked one of her pigtails behind her shoulder and gave her resting Alakazam a soft pat on the head.

"You don't have any idea what I'm talking about, do you?"

Ash attempted to shake his head but a strap across his forehead had belted his head down. He could only attempt to push the mouth guard out with his tongue.

Melanie slipped on some disposable gloves and pulled out the guard. Ash coughed and twisted his jaw about, glad to be rid of the pressure.

"Just to make sure you don't swallow your tongue."

"Was there really any danger?" said Ash grumpily.

"Hm. Some," Melanie said, plopping the mouth guard back in its case. "Never can be too careful.

"But back to the task at hand... You probably don't realize, do you? When that pokemon professor tried to rescue you... remember? You told us that it was raining."

At Ash's blank stare, Melanie sighed.

She held out a remote clicker and pointed it at the wall behind her. Suddenly the wall projected an image of Ash as he was only moments before. His eyes were glazed over as he relayed the contents of his dream.

Though the mouth guard was preventing normal speech, a device attached to his neck was talking for him. Reading the vibrations in his vocal cords, so Melanie explained.

The cool metallic voice that spoke for him gave Ash the creeps. But Ash was sure that his own voice would probably give him just as much pause.

_Professor Oak... he grabbed me. I'm being carried. It's... raining now. _

_ "Is the man still chasing you?"_

The Ash on screen then squinted, as if he could see the scene unfolding out in front of him.

_ I can't tell, _The machine blinked. _I can't see... Ah. _

Ash squirmed in his restraints, a look of pain on his face.

_ Blood!_ squealed the machine. _Blood! There's blood... I'm shot! No. Professor Oak. He's shot. Oh my god. We're going to die. He's chasing. He's shooting..._

Melanie clicked the remote once more and the picture faded. Ash found that he was trembling. As the recording progressed, flashes of his dream returned. He remembered being held tight to Professor Oak's chest; so tight he could hardly breathe. The rain falling down; feeling it bleeding into his eyes and stinging his skin as they ran. And the blood, _oh God, was it really blood?_, that sprayed him in the face from the gunshot wound in Professor Oak's shoulder. The metallic taste. It was _so very red_. It didn't seem real for blood to be so red.

_ There was no way that ever happened. _Ash frowned. "You planted that memory."

"Oh no. That one was your own. Well mostly your own. It seems to have been influenced by another. They're meshed together, almost seamlessly. Except if you know what to look for..." Melanie gently roused the Alakazam.

Ash instinctively flinched when its eyes opened. Last time it had looked at him, he had lost consciousness- lost for hours to the corridors of his memory. And he was in no rush to relive the trip.

"Ali here could tell. The true memory was layered underneath the false one. He let me know... when you were lying."

"Lying? But you hypnotized me..."

"Not on purpose, of course. Someone was forcing you to. Someone has been messing with your head long before I came along."

"But... no. I-"

"It wasn't raining," said Melanie. "It was actually midday. It was perfectly sunny on the day when that man tried to kill you and Professor Oak."

"What does that mean?" said Ash at length.

"The real question is... where'd that storm come from?"

Ash didn't get an answer. Alakazam's widen eyes had met his own. And Ash felt himself falling down; down the rabbit hole once again...

* * *

**"A**sh. Pick up your feet. You're kicking rocks everywhere," said Delia pulling her four year old along behind her. Ash made a minimal effort to lift his feet up on his next few steps but quickly went back to shuffling his feet through the gravel and dirt. The task of consciously lifting up his feet was too taxing.

The sun had only just crept over the horizon. Having spent a majority of the night before religiously watching the Indigo League Preliminaries, Ash was exhausted. He was feigning energy to avoid being found out by his mother; who was still unaware that her son had snuck downstairs after bedtime. But it was difficult to even keep his eyes open.

"Ash. Honestly, you're going to tear up those new shoes Professor Oak just gave you." They were hardly new, being hand-me-downs from the Professor's grandson, Gary. The sole was continuously flopping off the left shoe's toe like a hooked fish making a bid for freedom, for heaven's sake. But Ash knew better than argue with his mother's choice of words.

Ash made a few more attempts to lift his feet higher. Luckily Ash needn't take many more steps before the gravel gave way to the Oak Laboratory's front stoop.

With energy he hadn't displayed until now, Ash leapt up the steps and yanked himself neatly out of his mother's grip. Kicking off his shoes at the entrance, the little boy nearly knocked over Professor Oak who had come to answer the door.

"Woah there," said Oak only just catching himself and the little boy who had practically propelled himself into the elder's arms.

"Hallo, Professor," said Ash. He looked up with a broad grin splitting across his face. "Where's Gary?"

Oak returned the grin and jutted a thumb over his shoulder. Ash was off almost as soon as the gesture was made. Though Oak knew his grandson only just tolerated his playmate, May (Ash's back up playmate) was always more than willing to have Ash join in on her tea parties. It was only a last resort, of course. Ash was a very rough and tumble kid, much like Gary. But occasionally, the little boy would put on a frilly pink apron and hold tea cups with his pinky raised. Oak strongly suspected Ash only did so because he was so fond of May.

"God, it's hot."

Delia sighed as she ducked into the doorway. Her sunhat did little to stifle the heat of the summer afternoon. Waving the hat in front of her now, she was extremely appreciative of Oak's air conditioning.

"It is that," Oak's lips formed a pinching frown. "Are you sure you're ready?"

Delia nodded. Though she appeared indifferent, Oak could see the pain hiding in her eyes. Delia reached into the satchel she had been carrying and pulled out the only item held within.

A pokeball with a ornate knife speared through it.

She handed it gingerly over to the Professor, as if she were handling an injured bird. Oak received it just a delicately. And then, without another word, the two filed down the hall, out the back and towards the laboratory.

The technology used to bring the dead pokemon out wasn't invented by Professor Oak. In fact, the Kanto professor had to pull quite a few strings in order to get the revolutionary product's prototype from a one Professor Kodama. It helped that Professor Oak had also revolutionized the pokemon field by introducing his pokedex invention. There weren't many people who would say no to him if he promised a free shipment here and there.

In theory, it should work. The device was invented to extract pokemon from damaged pokeballs. By damaged, Kodama had explained, he meant broken button triggers, cracked seals, and at worse- rusty hinges.

"What if the seal was stabbed through... by say, a knife for instance?" The professor had asked none too subtly.

Kodama stared at Oak a long moment, as if Oak had pulled a rather tasteless joke on him. Then, after what seemed like a long minute of studying the professor's face, Kodama said, "It would be unwise to extract a pokemon in that state with this machine. I am unsure of what would happen."

"What do you mean?"

"The metal knife is what concerns me. The machine extracts pokemon from the seal of the pokeball. If the knife is not removed before extraction, there is no guarantee that the pokemon that comes out will be... whole."

"But if we remove the knife,"said Oak. "The pokemon energies inside will surely dissipate. We don't want to cause a leakage and lose the pokemon before it's extracted- especially with how much time has gone by."

"Hm. That sounds like a frustrating problem you have,"said Kodama with no hint of sympathy. "I do not think my machine will solve it for you."

"Still. I'd like to try."

"Then I will not be held accountable for what happens."

_ It will be fine,_ thought Oak stubbornly. _It has to. This is the best lead we've ever had_.

The automatic doors slid open with a pneumatic hiss at their approach. Oak politely fell back to let Delia through the doors first. He followed her in, going straight to the small storage lockers just inside the doors. There, he pulled out two suitably sized lab coats for them both. They weren't the average off the rack variety lab coats. Such things would hardly be protection with what they happened to be dealing with.

These were heavy lead lined aprons. Meant to keep any radiation from cooking their insides. Or at least that's what Oak hoped they would do. They had matching goggles too. Delia slipped hers on immediately but Oak, who always had trouble seeing with both his glasses and goggles on, let the goggles just hang from his neck for now. It was more important that he see what he was doing. At least for the moment.

Oak tried to go through the casual process of introducing Delia to the new equipment while simultaneously setting it up. But his hands were trembling and, in his nerves, he kept forgetting the order in which the switches and knobs were supposed to be flipped on. The machine started making strange grinding noises that Oak had to quickly attend to; leaving his technical explanation rather curt.

Not that Delia suffered from lack of explantation. That it worked was all she cared about. All the gears, grippers and mechanics of the machine simply overwhelmed her. Delia wasn't a scientist. She wasn't even a pokemon trainer anymore. In this place, Delia was completely out of her element. As Delia stood tentatively off to the side, watching the sleeping giant slowly humming to life, she could only cross fingers behind her back and hope that things would go right.

A glass tube in the center of the device slid down at Oak's volition; admitting the speared pokeball he still had at hand. Oak placed the ball into a fitted socket and with a twist of a dial, the glass went up again- effectively sealing the pokeball, and anything that might come out of it, up inside.

Delia couldn't resist putting a hand on the cool glass. She stared hard at the pokeball trapped inside for several moments; saying nothing at all. At long last, she turned, swallowed hard and gave Oak a stiff nod.

Oak, who had been waiting patiently at the switch, was now the one to hesitate. But unlike Delia, he felt as though he had to speak. Had to comfort her in some way, which would in turn comfort himself.

"It _will_ work." And Oak wasn't sure who he was trying convince.

"What will work?" came an unexpected voice at Oak's knee.

Both adults jumped; startled by the small innocuous interruption. Standing barely at waist height, Gary looked up at the massive machine before the three of them. His expression one of mild curiosity; his eyes not holding near enough reverence for the contraction towering over him.

"Gary," Oak breathed, only just able to swallow back his beating heart. "What in heaven's name-"

"We're playing hide and seek," Gary replied simply, not taking his eyes off the machine. "I'm seeking."

"Well, seek somewhere else, boy. It's not safe to play in here. You know that."

Oak took Gary by the arm and led him out of the room. He sent an apologetic look Delia's way. She offered a thin lipped smile and shrug in response. _Kids, what did you expect? _

Once they were safely outside of the laboratory, sensing the impending lecture, Gary immediately took off. Oak could only watch the boy run off with much of Delia's own surrendering look on his face. _Kids_. He returned to the lab and then task at hand.

Oak went immediately to the control panel. A few strokes of the keys and the machine's humming increased in strength. The room grew sticky with the rising mercury. As the machine began emitting a deep glow, both Oak and Delia unconsciously stepped back from the console. Delia slipped her goggles into place with trembling fingers.

She could feel it. The machine's hum seemed to travel through the floor and up through the soles of her shoes and into her flesh and bone. It was like the thrill of a rattling drum beat. She snatched up Oak's hand; giving it a frightened squeeze. There was no turning back now. Her pokeball was disappearing in a haze white light.

Delia didn't know when she realized that something was wrong. But perhaps it was the light. So white hot, cutting like a knife; it was like staring into the sun. Surely it shouldn't be like that.

Oak pressed his goggles to his face, the band too loose around his head to fasten. He turned to Delia, his face looking pale and frightened in the piercing white glow. His lips moved but the hum swallowed up his words. She felt his hands gripping at her arms. He was shaking her, his lips still stretching out words she couldn't hear. And then, just for a single moment, the hum released them.

And Delia heard Oak's sudden shout, "We have to get out. Now."

_ But Pikachu... _Delia's plea couldn't quite reach her lips. He was pulling at her arms and she found herself moving. Even though she wanted to stay. Wanted to save Pikachu... she knew it was impossible. She saw the blade come down once. Now she watched it being swallowed up in the light.

Oak's strong arm about Delia was the only brace keeping her from turning back. They ran, hunched down, out into the summer heat that felt oddly cooler now. The clean air seared Delia's burning lungs. She coughed freely. How was it that she didn't notice the smoke that was now pouring from the lab's open doors? Oak, who in this situation still had better control over his facilities, led Delia away from the burning building. They stumbled their way over a cattle fence where Oak determined they were a far enough distance away.

"The laboratory is separate from the rest of the house," Oak began as if continuing a conversation they had never had. "It will burn. But it should burn itself out before damaging the rest of the property."

"What went wrong?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe the blade, the hilt..." A distant look seemed to take over Oak's expression, "Yes, perhaps I was wrong..."

"Sam. Are all the kids safe?"

Oak gave his head a little toss, shaking the image of the burning building from his eyes. "Yes. Yes, I'm sure they are. Delia, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault."

"Don't blame yourself, Sam," Delia forced a smile. "Come. Let's find the little ones... Call the fire squ-"

A gasp slipped from her lips. The only warning she could give as little brazen Gary Oak tried to waltz right up to the burning building. Thankfully, Oak moved quick enough to intervene. He leapt over the cattle fence with more agility than Delia thought possible for a man his age.

"Gary!" Oak gasped, grabbing the boy about the waist and lifting him up and away from danger. "Can't you see the flames? The building's on fire!"

"I'm seeking! I'm seeking!"

"I told you to seek some place else."

"I've seeked _everywhere_ else."

Oak was having none of it. He held onto the squirming five year old as best he could, though it was like trying to wrestle a giant earth worm. He handed the boy over to Delia before clambering over the cattle fence once again.

"He's not there. He's _there_. In _there_, I know it," pouted the boy, throwing an accusing finger over his shoulder... in the direction of the laboratory.

A chill seemed to rush up Delia's spine. She set the little boy down on the grass and knelt down so that she could meet his eyes. Suddenly, Gary was shy. He wanted to look anywhere but at Delia's face. He shuffled uneasily under her gaze. "Who's there, Gary? Who was playing hide and seek with you?"

"Ash," Gary said softly.

With that one word, Delia felt her heart seize in her chest.

And then, the laboratory exploded.

* * *

**A** string of coughs sputtered out from behind a tipped filing cabinet. Ash peeked his head out, pushing hard against the cabinet that had both shielded and trapped him inside the burning building. The smoke was so thick that Ash could no longer see the hands in front of his face. It stung at his eyes and made his head spin. But Ash knew that if he stayed low the flames wouldn't lick at him. Heat rises. Oil floats. Water beats fire. Fire beats grass. The indigo league announcers were always going on about such things. The key factors in a battle. The keys to saving him now.

Ash crawled out on his knees, only just able to avoid the debris that still littered the laboratory's tiled floor; bits of glass, flame kissed papers, sharp joints of metal. He knew he needed to get out. But where "out" was, was a bit of mystery at the moment.

The coughs continued to rattle in his chest. Ash swallowed them back, but it was a bit like trying to hold back hiccups. Violent ones that would explode from his mouth and steal his breath away. His head knocked lightly against something. So focused on avoiding things laying about the ground, Ash didn't look forward. He rubbed his head and looked forward now. And then up; up at a metallic pedestal. The one he had spied his mother and Professor Oak huddling around before.

It looked a bit like a melted candle now. Or more like a stick of TNT on one of those Saturday morning cartoons; post explosion. The metal was twisted and curled off and the protective glass was all but shattered. But still, Ash thought he saw something on top. Like two little lights glittering out of reach.

He had to brave the smoke; stand on his tip toes to see over the ridge. On one side, there was the smoldering remains of the pokeball and dagger. Still entwined as ever, but looking worse for wear. Parts of the pokeball's mechanism was showing. And the blade hilt's intricate designs were partially seared off in the heat. On the other side, were the glistening pinpricks that Ash had mistaken for light.

Ash found himself nose to nose with a small pokemon no bigger than his hands. It was fuzzy and yellow, with long rabbit like ears and eyes that seemed impossibly large for its small head. It crinkled its nose at the small child and Ash crinkled his nose right back. But the pokemon didn't shy away. Only stared and lay still on the metal stand. Carefully, Ash reached up and scooped the creature into his small hands. There was no fight left in it. The pokemon just hung limply in the child's gentle grip.

And Ash was off again. Only pausing once to side step robotic pincers that had fallen off the machine. It caught at his clothes as he passed, as if trying to pull him back.

Ash didn't know how he got out. Only that there was smoke and fire and then suddenly he was being swept up into strange arms. With their masks and garbled breathing, Ash half thought they were monsters. Firefighters- he came to realize. It wasn't long before he was back in his mother's arms; hugged too tightly and cried over. They, those firefighters, gave him air through a mask like their own and wrapped him up in a blanket though he was a far cry from being cold. No one noticed his extra passenger. They coddled him, fussed over him. But no one spied the little face that occasionally poked from from beneath the blankets No one but Professor Oak.

"What's this?" He said, taking note of the squirming creature in Ash's hands. Ash pulled back, trying to shield the pokemon from view once more.

"I found him. He's mine," said Ash fiercely.

"You found him?"

"Yes. He's _mine_. He likes me."

"Did you have any other pokemon in the laboratory?" Delia asked, having spotted the small creature herself now too.

"No. I moved out all the pokemon before the test... Will you let me see him, Ash? Just for a moment, if you please."

He held out his hands but Ash ignored him. It took a stern look from his mother to make him relent.

"Here," Ash said softly, uncurling his grip on the small pokemon. "Only for a second."

Both Delia and Oak leaned in closer in spite of themselves. The tiny creature was obviously exhausted. That was the only reason it let itself be manhandled by the little boy so. But still, it seemed to know it was being examined and cast its eyes up at the two adults now hovering over it.

"It's a pichu," Delia said. "The smallest one I've ever seen."

"That's because it's a hatchling. Fresh out the egg from the looks of it. But... I didn't have any eggs on my compound. And I'm sure I didn't have an infestation on the grounds. Pikachu aren't common in Pallet Town. Why, I haven't even seen one for years," And then as if realizing what he was saying, Oak's face took on a dark cast. He looked at Delia. She shook her head vigorously.

"That's not possible, Samuel."

"You found that pichu in the lab, did you, boy?"

Ash nodded. But Delia still shook her head. "I'm telling you it's not possible, Samuel. My Pikachu may have been female but she wasn't pregnant. I never bred her... And besides! It's been over four years! How could an egg survive that long? In a pokeball of all things. Are you suggesting my pokemon laid an egg in a... in a virtual environment and the egg... it survived long enough to be hatched?"

"No, Delia. I don't think your pokemon gave birth to this pichu," Oak took the pokemon out of Ash's hands; despite the boy's angry protests. He gave the pokemon a cursory examination and frowned. _Male_.

"Then I don't understand. What do you think this pichu is?"

"I think this pichu _is_ your pikachu," said Oak at last. "I think somehow... inconceivably... we cloned pikachu. We cloned a dead pokemon."

* * *

**C**onsciousness sluggishly returned to Ash. He clung to the tangled remnants of his vivid dream. The professor's words echoed in his mind as if they had only just been spoken. And this time, Ash understood with an adult's clarity. He remembered that pichu, though truthfully it had been years. He remembered the way it had curled up in a tiny ball in his hands. And how much Ash wanted it for himself. But after that day, Ash had never seen it again. Of course, Ash asked for it. More often Professor Oak would ignore him. Until one day... yes, he remembered. One day the Professor said he had given the pichu away. Sent him away to another pokemon laboratory so that it could be with its own kind.

Ash was old enough then to know that when adults say that a pokemon "went to the farm upstate," they didn't mean it. No, it was adult speak for the pokemon is dead. So when the Professor had said those words, Ash knew pichu was gone. Oh, he cried long and hard after that. His first pokemon gone before Ash had really gotten to know him. Gary had teased him. And Ash felt bad that he had felt bad. Crying for a pokemon that he had only held once? That was the sort of thing that babies did.

But had pichu really been gone? **Clone. Dead pokemon. Pikachu. **His mother had a pikachu? A _dead_ pikachu? Why hadn't she ever told him? Then how did she feel about Ash's own pikachu? He tried to picture his mother's face; tried to will to life old memories where the two had been in the room together. Had his mother ever looked at pikachu strangely? Did she ever wish that his starter had been her own?

A new thought flew unbidden to his mind. It made his stomach clench and his eyes snap open. Staring hard up at the dark ceiling, he watched the dots sickeningly connect together. Could it be? Was that pichu and his pikachu one in the same?

Before the thought could fully solidify in his mind, other more pressing matters came to Ash's situation. He quickly realized that he was no longer bound in the dentist chair that he had been strapped to before. No, he was laying a few feet away on a cot. The wires had all been removed and the room was dark save for a soft glow coming from a distant computer monitor. Ash squinted over towards the light before quickly going limp again. Melanie. His heart thudded painfully in his chest upon seeing her again. The woman was bent over the keyboard typing furiously but her awful pokemon was gone. And her eyes weren't on him.

_I must have passed out for a long time, _Ash thought. Perhaps his body had taken too much of the nightmare attacks for one day. So instead of returning him to his cell, she had dropped him on a cot. Until such time as he could be used again. Well, Ash hoped she'd never get the chance. But as Ash attempted to climb from the rickety cot, he found one of his hands wouldn't come. He glared down at the handcuff fastened around his wrist, the other end clipped to the cot's frame. _So they aren't that stupid after all. _

His movement must have made some noise; the clinking of the handcuffs perhaps. He heard the squeak of Melanie's chair turning. Ash went limp once more. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut; praying that Melanie would just forget about him and go back whatever she was doing. And then he heard the soft footfalls. His heartbeat pounded in his ears along with each step. So loud; he thought that she must be able to hear them too. _Go away,_ Ash thought furiously. _Go away. Go away. Go away._

He could almost feel the chill of her shadow over him. She knew. She _had to_ know that he was awake. And then the torture would continue again. What memory would he be forced to endure this time? His indigo league losses? Or even worse, William's death. Not that Ash needed help remembering the details of that day. He relived it all to often in his own self made nightmares.

A sudden series of chirps cut through the heavy silence. Ash felt the shift in the air next to him. The footsteps on the linoleum floors receded but still Ash counted to ten before squinted open one eye. A screen projected itself on the far back wall with the words call waiting scrolling across a black screen. Melanie was all to quick to return to her seat and keyboard. Once the call was accepted, Ash could see why. Andromeda. And she looked none too happy.

"It's been two days, Melanie. Is the boy broken yet or not?"

From what features Ash could glean from his downcast position and what he could see illuminated by the dull glow of the computer screen, Melanie looked terrified. Her eyes were focused on the keyboard where she continued typing loud and hard. As if the keys suddenly needed more pressure to relay her messages.

"He passed out," she said at last.  
"That's not what I asked."  
"I couldn't continue. The boy needs to be awake. If I press him too hard, he could die."

"You're being too soft on him. I don't care if you make him brain dead. I need him broken, Melanie. If you cannot break him then kill him. I will not hand the boy back to his father knowing what he knows."

"_You_ led him to mew," Melanie muttered under her breath.

Andromeda moved so closer to the screen. Any closer and her breath might fog the lens. "What was that?"

"Ah. I was just- I said there's only so much I do, madam. I'm doing my best."

Andromeda shifted on screen. Adjusting her seat, perhaps. Ash couldn't only notice so much from his resting position on cot. However, the silence was obviously taking its toil on Melanie. Her upper body and facial expressions were composed; save for the sheen of sweat on her brow. But her legs were trembling. And she was gripping the sides of her chair tightly; almost as if she feared falling off it.

"I need more time," Melanie dared to add.

"You've had too long already."

"But he _knows_ things. His mind... it's fascinating. Things have been done to it. Before me. I don't know of any human or pokemon alive that could leave the kind of mental suggestion that he's been subjected to. He's lost full days of conscious thought and yet retained his sanity. But it's there. I've uncovered threads of it. I know if I had a few weeks or months more I could have it-"

"A day."

"But madam!"

"You have a day left, Melanie. Break him. Turn him. Make him a vegetable for all I care. But do it in the next 24 hours. Or so help me, I'll strap you to the chair next."

Melanie evidently knew better than to argue with that. "Yes, madam. It will be done."

The light from the screen died. And Ash knew that feigning sleep wouldn't help him now. His mind was still reeling with the conversation that he had just overheard; a conversation he only just understood. But he understood the most important thing. There would be no rescue for him. Even surviving this wouldn't be survival- no. He would never see pikachu again. Not Misty. Not Gary. Not his mother. Not even his so-called father. No chance to ask. So many things he'd never get to know now.

And somehow this thought hurt more than anything else.

With the buzz of his thoughts drowning everything out, he realized too late that Melanie was standing over him.

"You're awake. Good," She said with a newly retained calm. "Then you know what's about to happen to you."

"Please," Ash found himself saying before he could stop himself. The word slipped out of his lips just as surely as the tears from his eyes. He was too terrified to fight them now. What was the point? There was no one to impress with his bravery here. "Please, don't do this. Don't do this to me."

Melanie stared down at him hard. Almost as if she didn't know what to make of his tears or pleading. Perhaps she thought him pathetic. She who so enjoyed the sound of human screaming. And yet, Ash somehow thought he saw a glimpse of pity in her eyes. At last, her gaze shifted.

"I don't enjoy this part," She said to a spot on the cot just slightly left of his head. "I like the ways minds work. Emptying them out is so..." She trailed off, giving her head a little shake. Ash couldn't help but notice how her pigtails continued to swing. They made her look younger but how young was she? Twenty? Twenty five? And a torturer for the White Ice organization, Ash had to remind himself.

"I would have found it, you know?" Melanie continued, genuine excitement lilting her tone. "That thread in your mind. Wouldn't it have been grand? Oh, how I wanted to. You would have thanked me for it. It seemed very exciting, that little mind-wiped secret of yours."

Ash said nothing. He just stared, wanting to rub at his tear streaked face. But he was as afraid to move as one would facing down a poised cobra. If he moved she might remember what she was supposed to be doing. The threat was till there. Her pokeball was hanging from a gold chain around her neck. Much like Ash had once worn Pikachu's pokeball. He watched it warily, swinging above his face like a pendulum-ed axe.

"You don't even realize how amazing it is, do you?"

"I don't know what-"

"Oh but you would have. _You would have_. The possibilities! The implications! I would have loved to have known. A creature of unfathomable psychic power wanted you not to remember something... something _grand,_" Her wistful expression twisted into one of disgust. "But then _she_..." Melanie spat the word, "She orders me to destroy a work of art. A practical world wonder. Ugh... **fool.**"

For one single heart beat, Melanie's voice was layered with a second voice. The one that snuck into all of his worse nightmares. The talking pokemon... Gary's nightmare and his own. Even here, in his final moments, the questions he could never answer; taunted him.

Ash heard the crack of the pokeball. Never had that sound chilled him so completely.

"I'm _really_ very sorry about this."

* * *

**H**e was on the docks. The cool wind played across his face. Heavy clouds shaded the sky. And he could smell the rain on the air. Ash found himself walking across the slick wooden dock. The ocean no longer lashed itself against the shores. The waves were slowing- stilling, but yet still dark as ink in the wake of the storm. It felt nice to stand there after hours of being cooped up inside the pokemon center. The trainers inside had been just a restless as he had been. The uncomfortable press of wet and grumpy human beings (the wet pokemon smelled even worse) had been starting to get to him. It was liberating to be here now; watching the storm break.

Just like he had been expecting it, Ash's eyes were on the parting clouds. In the gleam of a sun beam, Ash spotted the familiar lithe form dancing between the clouds. _Mew_. Ash sucked in a breath of surprise. Before he knew what he was doing, Ash was rushing forward and off the edge of the pier. Ash was suddenly yanked back. He felt hands grabbing his arms, pulling him to safety. Still he grasped for the pokemon disappearing behind the clouds.

"What are you doing, Ash?" went Misty.

"The water isn't safe!" said Brock.

Ash tried to pull himself free. "You don't understand!" They hadn't seen poor Mew wither away in that tank. They hadn't heard how she pleaded with him, pleaded with him to find her child. Mewtwo. He needed to talk to her while he still had the chance. He needed to find the elusive Mewtwo. To help her. To save her. And he couldn't just stay here, when she was right there; right within his reach.

"Are you crazy?"

"What's wrong with you?"

He hooked his foot on the edge of the dock and used it as leverage to pull himself forward. They had to let go of him now or risk falling into the water too. Their shouts and screams were like a roar in his ears. Ash tore away from their grasp, leaping towards the pokemon that hung in the air so far above his head. It was a silly notion. As if he thought he could reach it! But his outstretched hand even seemed to catch it up- swallowing it up in his closed fist. Then he fell.

He fell through a seemingly infinitesimal amount of space without even the ocean to catch him. It seemed he slipped right through it. And there was nothing left to do but to fall. Fall and watch mew drift further and further away.

**Fool. Trying to stop our battle. **

Yes. What had he been thinking? Or rather... what had he been _remembering_?

**Quiet human. **A Pokemon can't be a Pokemon Master!** You humans are a dangerous species. My clones don't need their powers to prove their worth! **This just proves that fighting is wrong! **My storm will create my own world. **It's not gonna end like this Mewtwo.** From now on, I am the one who makes the rules. **You're mine!** It is useless to challenge me! We were created with powers far stronger than the originals! I am the new ruler of this world. Mewtwo. **Mewtwo!** Mewtwo. **

**What transpired here I will always remember.**

**But perhaps for you, these events are best forgotten... **

* * *

**A**sh shot bolt upright out of bed feeling as though he had just been catapulted out of his own dreams. He clutched at the stitch in his chest, buckled over his own knees as he tried to even out his breathing. The air in his room was frigid and yet here he was, drenched in sweat. His head was spinning; still heavy with the messy echoes of his dream. And that's all it had been. Sound. A fury of sound that lashed out at him so powerfully and so quickly that Ash felt that sure he was going to be sick. None of it made sense. Except for that one word. Mewtwo. Why did that name alone seem so familiar?

The window shades were at half tilt casting silvers of morning light across his bed. And it was _his_ bed wasn't it? In his bedroom. Home. Ash numbly gazed at the sun bleached Indigo League posters taped to the walls. He had quite the collection going on. Ash remembered that he had been saving up to buy that year's vintage Indigo League jacket once upon a time. The shards of his turpiggy bank still glinted untouched on his dresser. In his haste to leave that one stormy night, he had smashed that one dream to protect another. Because what use could a dusty old jacket actually be?

Ash rested his chin on his knees taking a moment to acclimatize to this new setting. **No, not new. **The nightmares had had him all jumbled up. He was still dreaming about his captivity with the White Ice as if it had all happened yesterday. **But that was months ago now. A sizable ransom had been paid and now he was safe again.** Ash hugged his knees to his chest tighter. It was hard to believe that sometimes; that he was safe. Really he had his friends to thank. And his mother... yes, he owed her the world.

Not only had she been integral in his rescue (Ash supposed he had Misty to thank for her involvement) but after everything, she took him back. No questions asked.

Even now, as he holed himself up in the house, she didn't nothing to pressure him. Their old arguments were pushed to the wayside in the wake of his return. Ash knew it was only temporary, of course. He could tell his mother was holding her tongue. It was only a matter of how much time she'd allow him before everything went back to normal. Although, Ash was having a hard time believing it ever would. The nightmares plagued him nightly. And once the sun came out, Ash was left in tightly wound state. He was always looking over his shoulder, fearful that Andromeda hadn't really let him go. That the whole rescue was just a ploy to make him feel safe. Ash knew. He knew that if Andromeda wanted him back, she could have him back in an instant. The woman's organization put the former glory of Team Rocket to shame.

He had spent enough time in bed today though. Ash tossed off his covers and slipped off the mattress to the floor. But as he did so, a strange clunking noise came from somewhere by his feet. Ash looked down, suddenly leaping back from what had landed by his feet. A gun? Had that been in his bed? It took a few minutes for his mind to catch up with his racing heart.

** No, that's mine. **He had completely forgotten. The paranoid had reached a point that he didn't feel safe without a weapon close at hand. Pokemon weren't enough... **not that they were really an option. **Pikachu had been acting oddly ever since they had gotten back. It was like they were strangers. Pikachu wouldn't come near Ash, no matter the coaxing. Instead, the pokemon would flee, breaking Ash's heart every time. He wasn't sure what they did to his best friend and Ash wasn't sure he wanted to. If he ever got the chance, he'd get Andromeda back. For everything.

And that's where this gun seemed to have come in. Ash cautiously retrieved it from the bedroom floor. He would would never admit it out loud, but he liked the weight of it in his hands. It gave him a sense of security that he had had since he got back. His mother would never approve of the weapon in her house. And it wouldn't do to have her find out about it now. So Ash, pulled open the bedside table drawer and slipped the gun inside. The drawer slid closed with a soft click and Ash sighed deeply. He felt like he had been asleep too long. Running a hand through his tangled mess of hair, Ash padded barefoot out of his bedroom.

The house was surprisingly quiet for so late in the morning. Normally, his mother would be up doing some chore or another. Perhaps she was out in her garden. Ash walked into the empty kitchen, surprised to find last night's dinner still laid out on the table. The food had long since gone cold; Ash's own plate untouched. He hadn't really had much of an appetite lately. But that wasn't the odd part. His mother should have cleared the table long before now. She would have had to to make way for breakfast. And that too she would have cleared away for lunch. If there was one thing his mother was particularly meticulous about it was timely meals. If you weren't there, you didn't eat. She wouldn't have left anything out for him... So then what was this?

"Mom? Mom, are you here?" Ash called out at last. He could hear birds twittering outside, but no other sound answered him. He was just about to follow his first hunch and check the garden when a silhouette in the other room caught his eye. He could see the back of her head from the couch where she sat facing the television playing out on mute. Some sort of news program was playing with captions scrolling in black and white at the bottom of the screen. Ash smiled at the sight. She had been watching the TV on mute so not to wake him.

Feeling a bit playful, Ash snuck up on his mother from behind. Then, leaning over the back of the couch and her shoulder, Ash loudly and cheerfully chimed, "Good morning, mother!" He expected a shriek and maybe a half hearted smack. What Ash didn't expect was the silence he received.

"Mother?"

Her eyes were closed; like she was sleeping. But Ash had never known his mother to be a deep sleeper. He rounded the couch, nearly tripping over the carpet as he did so. He grabbed her shoulders and gave his mother a few gentle shakes.

"Mom? Mom, please," Ash said, his voice small and frightened.

Her head lulled but she didn't wake. It was when Ash was pulling back that his hands brushed against the stiff fabric of her shirt. Blood. Ash recoiled at the sight. The sickly stain had blackened the front of her blouse, all from a bullet hole in her heart.

Had he just swallowed his own tongue? Ash grabbed at his mother's shoulders once more; his building panic making his shaking this time far more violent. But still she didn't stir. She was like a limp doll in his grasp, falling over- her head hitting the armrest as she fell. Ash could hardly see for the tears burning in his eyes. Ash clawed at his eyes then his hair- anything he could get a solid grasp on. He was trembling, biting down hard on the flesh of his lip. The sound; the roar in his ears was starting again. This wasn't possible. He was supposed to be safe! They were all supposed to be safe!

And then he heard a voice raise above everything else. Ash turned where he knelt, horrified to see both Clark and Lewis standing in the doorframe. Lewis wasn't meeting Ash's eye. But Clark was talking. The shock of them being there drowned sense from the sound of his voice. And it took several minutes before Ash could understand it.

"...impressed with Melanie really. Who would have thought it could have worked so quickly. I would have thought for sure the suggestion wouldn't hold. Last time I doubt her work!"

"Did you do this?" Ash hissed. He used the couch to anchor himself as he climbed to his feet. Ash was shaking badly now, but if it was from anger or grief or some horrible combination of both, he couldn't say. The twins' eyes darted in his direction but neither said anything. Were they ignoring him? "I said did you do this?" He finally found his volume. His voice practically breaking with grief as he screamed, "Did you f—cking murder my mother?! Answer me!"

Clark snorted and turned back to Lewis as if Ash hadn't even spoken. "Apparently he's woken up."

"The hypnosis probably only lasts for so long at first."

"Oh, good point-"

Their conversation was chilling. He could feel it making connecting some dots in the back of his mind. A kind of sense that he didn't want to realize. Instead, Ash grabbed a nearby table lamp, yanking the plug free from the wall socket. It was a cumbersome weapon but it would have to do. He made to strike Clark first but the young man turned at the last moment. His lips formed a word that Ash himself couldn't hear. But quite against his own will, his arms froze in mid air.

"Don't," Lewis started as Clark moved in on Ash. The man came only inches from Ash's face and for the life of him, Ash couldn't understand why he couldn't move. _What was happening? _

"Poor slob," mocked Clark. "Doesn't even understand what's happening to him."

Ash found he could still speak; though it was difficult spitting out words around his gritted teeth. "Why did you kill my mother?" said Ash, blinking the stinging in his eyes. He could no longer wipe the tears that were now flowing down his cheeks unchecked.

"Oh? _I_ didn't kill her... Remember?"

The power of moment returned to Ash; sending him stumbling backwards from Clark. When he lowered his arms he found not a lamp but a gun gripped his hands. Ash gave a shout and dropped the gun with a clatter to the floor. Ash couldn't feel his face. The room was rocking and spinning but only Ash was moving.

He whirled back on the twins. Somehow he knew before he looked that the doorway was empty. Their shadows swirled away as a new reality took its place. The windows outside were dark now. And his mother was there, sitting on the couch. Her shock was frozen on her face, eerily illuminated by the glow of the television set. And her blood, a fresh red color, it was all over him. Freckling his skin and shirt in its spray. It was him... It wasn't him but it _was_ him. This was him now. Thanks to them

"No. No, this can't..."

The TV was still blaring the news and with a shaky blood stained finger, Ash pressed mute.

* * *

To Be Continued...  
Please Read and Review!

Four years is quite a long time. In the amount of time since this story was last updated, not only did I graduate college but I went through three jobs, and returned to college to enter an ITP program. That program and I aren't really a good fit though. I'm planning on getting an associates in child development so that I can start a career in working with children...

But I'm sure you guys don't really care about that. You're probably all wondering about the fate of this story. And I'll be perfectly honest guys. I don't really write fanfictions all that much anymore. I'm focused on my own novel and fanfics unfortunately just fall on the back burner whenever that happens. But does that mean you should consider this fanfic dead?

I'd say no. I still adore this story and I still want to tell it. It may take me years between updates... but at the moment, I plan to continue. And hopefully you guys will still be interested the next time I update. I'm hoping it won't take me four years this time though.

A special thanks to those who reviewed last time. I doubt many of you even remember that you reviewed either! Thanks to Bryan, Ramses, Organ Man, Your Friend, , Guest, Elizabeth the Bathog, nequam-tenshi, manga girl geek, alfaq, Patriot-of-USA, Sikka12, Unicorn Killer, AngelOfPastPresentAndFuture, reader, auPHE, anonymous, Shade O'Killer, shelliTaRZaN, lousie, princess of saiyans luna, CrazyNproud, GLADoS, flightless-green-bird-13, MarHeavenAngel, kairi loves sora, Ldsprincess, TriplePivotTurn, Rowan, Anonymous, Japonica, Jiyle, and last but not least AvALoN93.

I also want to take a moment to address something that was recently brought to my attention in a review. Some people are complaining that **Mewtwo isn't in the story yet**. I sincerely apologize if caused any of you to come into reading this story expecting Mewtwo being a focal character from the first chapter. The truth of it is I'm building up for his entrance since his entrance is a huge turning point in the story. **But Mewtwo is going to be in this story**. **He is a main character.** In fact, you could argue that he's **almost as important as Ash is** in the events that are unfolding. The only reason it seems to be taking so long is because we are only in the first quarter of the story, guys. But I promise if you guys are patient, Mewtwo will be making an appearance. And I'm hoping it will be epic. :)

This chapter was a heck of a lot longer than I planned for it to be (in fact I had to cut the original chapter outline in half because it was just too much). I hope the length makes up for the long hiatus. Next time we will be seeing Gary, Misty and friends again, I promise!

Please leave a review! It lets me know that there are still people reading this story!


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